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BATH : PRINTED BY WILLIAM LEWIS. 


205449 

’13 











HENRY YIII. 


T HE Band of Pensioners or Speres was con¬ 
stituted by King Henry YIII. in 1509, as a 
Eoyal Body Guard, in confirmation of which, 
Hall the Chronicler states more than once, “ the 
Kynge ordeined fiftie gentlemenne to bee Speres, 
every of them to have an Archer, a Demilaunce, 
and a Castrel, and every Spere to have three 
greate horses to bee attendaunte on his persone,” 
&c. The Band was composed of Cadets of noble 
families, and of the higher order of gentry, 
according to “ certain Ordinances and Statutes 
devised and signed by the King’s Majesty for a 
Retineue of Speres or Men of Arms, to be chosen 
of Gentlemen that be common, and Extract of 
Noble Blood. With a form of their Othe.” (See 
Appendix , No. 1.) 

i 

——.. ■ -- 














4 

This is to be found among the Manuscript 
Addenda to the Museum copy of the Cottonian 
Library, and with the Yeomen of the Guard is 
the oldest military body in the kingdom. 

King Henry VII., at his Coronation in 1485, 
had instituted a body of fifty Archers, under the 
title of Yeomen of the Guard; but Henry A III., 
not contented with an escort of A eomen, estab¬ 
lished, at the instance of Sir W. Compton, 
according to Hoyd, in his u Worthies,” this new 
and sumptuous Troop of Gentlemen, composed 
of Cadets of noble families and the higher order 
of gentry, to attend his personal service. 

In the year 1520 the Gentlemen Pensioners 
or Spears attended their Poyal Master to the 
Field of Cloth of Gold between Guines and 
Andres, as his Body Guard, and are conspicuous 
in competing with the Noble Garde du Corps of 
the French King, a Corps similarly constituted, j 

In 1526 the Corps is described in the House¬ 
hold Statutes made at Eltham, as complete, and 
fully officered, the officers being Captain, Lieu¬ 
tenant, Standard Bearer, Clerk of the Cheque, 













5 

and Harbinger. About this period the battle 
axe was introduced, and the Corps began to do 
duty on foot in the Court, as well as on horse¬ 
back in the Field, using the battle axe for 
chamber service, and the spear when mounted. 

In 1539, on the ceremonial of the Reception 
of the Princess Ann of Cleves, when her Eoyal 
Highness was received with great state by the 
King and his suite on Blackheath, at the foot of 
Shooters’ Hill, the Gentlemen Pensioners are 
again very conspicuous. Her Eoyal Highness 
was accommodated in a rich pavilion till the 
King and his train arrived, who was accom¬ 
panied by the Corporation of London, Knights, 
and Esquires. Holinshed, the historian, states 
that the King was attended by the fifty Gentle¬ 
men Pensioners, and that behind them stood the 
serving men (the Constills) in good order, well 
horsed and apparelled, so that, as the old chron¬ 
icler has it, 

“ Who so euer had well viewed them might 
haue said that they for tall and comelie person¬ 
ages, and cleane of lim and bodie, were able to 











6 


give the greatest Prince in Christendome a 
mortall breakfast, if he had beene the King’s 
enemie.” 

“ In this order rode the King till he came 
to the last end of the ranke of the Pensioners, 
and there euerie person that came with him 
placed himselfe on the one side or the other, the 
King standing in the middest.” 

In this manner the interview took place, 
after which the Pensioners, with the Guard, 
departed to furnish the Hall at Greenwich. 
Here again the Band was on duty when the 
King and his intended Queen arrived there, for 
“ below the hearth in the Hall were placed the 
Yeomen of the Guard, and above the hearth 
the fifty Pensioners, with their battle axes.” 
The Band thus served as a Royal Body Guard 
to the King on horseback in the Field, and im¬ 
mediately afterwards on foot in the Hall at the 
Palace at Greenwich. 

Soon after this the following Order was 
issued by His Majesty to grant the Band the 
liberty of Quarterly Waiting :— 















7 

(Hie 0rbm\ 

6 

“ Whereas it hath pleased the King’s Majesty, 
at the special sute of Anthony Browne, Knighte 
and Captaine of His Majesty’s Gentlemen Pen- 
coners, to grannte and enlarge His Highnes’ 
said Penconers to the libtie of Quarter-Waiters, 
by the cheque as is in an Article before men- 
coned, so that continually th’one half of them 
shall be attendaunt without any excuse of sick- 
nes or otherwise, but that he or they that shall ' 
fortune to be sicke, or have any other lett within 
his said Quarter, shall, for the time of his absence, 
fynde one of his Companye that shall be oute of 
his Quarter, to waite upon the King’s Majesty, 
and to furnishe his place, or ells to be in daunger 
of the check, and the other halfe, for the meane 
tyme of theire half yere, so by the quarter to be 
taken att their libertye. 

“ Item. The whole Band of the said Gentle¬ 
men Penconers, at the fouer principall Feasts of 
the yere, that is to saye, Christmas, Ester, Whit- 


















8 

sontid, Alhollontyd, shall give their attendaunce 
under check as they now doe. 

“ Item. In consideracon whereof, whereas nowe 
they are bounded to the findinge of twoe greate 
horses only, they shall each one from hence¬ 
forth keep three horses furnished accordingly. 

“ Item. Notwithstanding this graunte of libtie, 
they be neverthelesse at all tymes in such a 
readynes that when warninge shall be given unto 
them from the Officers above them, they, and 
every of them, shall, accordynge to the same, 
repaire to the Courte, and give such attendaunce 
for the tyme as shall be appointed unto them 
usinge for that seasone, be it in their Quarter or 
otherwise, no lesse deligence than they doe at 
the present, as apptaynethe.” 

During the remainder of this reign the Gen¬ 
tlemen Pensioners appear to have attended the 
King on all occasions in their Military as well as 
Civil capacity. Thus, according to Lord Her¬ 
bert, they escorted his Majesty at his grand 
entree into Boulogne, after it was taken in 1544, 
clad in complete armour, with the Earl of Essex 












9 

at their head; while, according to another writer 
(Strype), they served with the King at the siege 
of that city, including a Retinue to each Pen¬ 
sioner of three men at arms all mounted “ on 
barded horses in one suit of red and yellow 
damask, the bards of their horses and plumes of 
feathers being of the same colors.” 

A complete Muster Poll of the whole Band, 
with the amount of their pay, is to be found in 
the Statutes of Eltham in 1526. 

EDWARD YI. 

In the reign of Edward YI., frequent mention 
is made of the Band, even by the King himself, 
in his own Journal, printed in Bishop Burnett’s 
“ History of the Reformation,” vol. 2. 

The Pensioners first appear in the Procession 
from the Tower to Westminster, on the day 
preceding the Coronation, when “ the Pensioners 
and Men of Amies, with their pole axes, went 
on either side the way on foote.” By this ar¬ 
rangement they were placed at proper distances 




10 

—so that the King might be in the centre of the 
Band of Pensioners. 

On the day of the Coronation the King landed 
in the morning at the Privy Stairs, escorted by 
the “ Pensioners apparelled all in red damaske, 
with their pole axes in their hands,” and in the 
procession to the Abbey they followed the Peers 
in the rear, immediately before the Yeomen of 
the Guard. 

In this reign the Band was actively employed, 
as will appear from a Grand Muster of all the 
King’s Standing Forces and men of Amies. An 
account of this General Muster is taken partly 
from the King’s Journal, as well as from a MS. 
in the Cottonian Library, printed in Strype’s 
Memorials, vol. 2, p. 290. It took place in 1551, 
when the King’s Band of Pensioners mustered 
under the Eoyal Banner, the other Bands under 
the banners of their respective commanders. 

According to Strype, vol. 2, page 184, “ The 
King was now minded to see his standing forces, 
horse and foot, muster before him, . 
.and a letter was dispatched to the 








11 

Marquis of Northampton, the Captain of the 
Band of Pensioners, to have the Band appointed 
in readiness, with all the Pensioners and Men of 
Arms attending on the Court.” 

In Hyde Park there was a great muster in the 
King’s presence, after this manner:— 

“ First came the King’s Trumpeters, then the 
Lord Bray, in gilt harness, commanding the 
Pensioners, and a great banner of the King’s 
Arms ; then all the Pensioners, in complete har¬ 
ness and great array, in white and black, five and 
five in a rank. And after them came their ser- 
vants, in number an hundred, with great horses 
and harness, in white and black, with spears.” 

Edward VI. received much satisfaction from 
the appearance of his band of Pensioners on this 
occasion. He describes them in his Journal 
as “well armed men, their horses all fair and 
great, the worst worth at least twenty pounds. 
Thus they careered twice round the St. James’ 
Field, and so departed.” 

These musters were then very frequent. Stowe 

describes another in the next year. Sometimes 
2 





















12 


the Band performed mock fights and sieges. The 
King, in his Journal, mentions one in his second 
year, “ when thirty Gentlemen defended a fortress 
at Greenwich against an hundred assailants.” 
They also took a part in the “ King’s sports and 
amusements, such as running at base, shooting, 
running at the ring, &c.” Stowe mentions ano¬ 
ther muster made in the last year of the King’s 
reign, “ when the Captain of the Pensioners, 
Marquis of Northampton, mustered as Lord 
Chamberlain, and Lord Bray the Lieutenant 
commanding the Pensioners.” 

At one of these musters there was a design to 
strike a fell and treacherous blow at the King’s 
power, and to annihilate the force assembled, 
“in which all the Horse of the Genddimerie 
were to have been slain.” 

In this reign the Band is also mentioned as 
being in attendance at Hampton Court during 
the visit of the Queen Dowager of Scotland. The 
Queen Dowager was passing from France to 
Scotland in 1550, and being driven by a storm 
into Portsmouth, took that opportunity of visit- 
































13 

ing Edward VI., and was received at Hampton 
Court by many of the Nobility and all the Pen¬ 
sioners, with their Captain and Lieutenant. 

At her departure she was likewise escorted to 
the extremity of the City of London by the Pen¬ 
sioners, and was then received by the Gentlemen 
of the County of Middlesex. 

It appears also that the Band was sometimes 
employed in reception of persons inferior to roy¬ 
alty, for in 1549, when the Count D’Anguien 
and others of the French Nobility arrived in 
England, they were received at Blackheath by 
Lords deputed by the King, and among the rest 
by Lord Bray at the head of the Pensioners. 

The next occasion when the Band is noticed 

is in a Progress made by the King in 1551, when 

it is stated in His Majesty’s Journal that on the 

16th May a muster was made of all the Men at 

Arms, (with some exceptions,) and also of all 

the Pensioners, for the purpose of draughting a 

certain number out of each Band for an Escort. 

The King states the number out of each Band 

appointed to attend him ,—no draught being made 
2 * 


























out of the King's own Band at all . It is pre¬ 
sumed, therefore, that the whole Band went on 
that occasion. 

In a MS. account of the payments to sundry 
Officers of the Royal Household in the sixth year 
of Edward VI., appears one to a Standard Bearer, 
with a salary of £100 per annum, and one to a 
Banner Bearer of £40 per annum. 

QUEEN MARY. 

In the reign of Queen Mary the ordering of 
the Band differs very little from the preceding 
reign, except that the Captain, the Marquis of 
Northampton, had a Table, at which most prob¬ 
ably the Lieutenant, Lord Bray, and the Stan¬ 
dard Bearer, Sir W. Stafford, dined. 

(In the next reign we shall find a Table not 
only for the Officers, but for such of the Pension¬ 
ers as were on duty, the half of the Band being 
then always in constant attendance.) 

The number of Pensioners at this time still 

























15 

consisted of fifty, of whom the first three were 
Knights. 

The annual stipend of the Pensioners was then 
£46 13s. 4d. each. The first important duty of 
the Band was during the Queen’s procession 
from the Tower to Westminster, on the day pre¬ 
ceding the Coronation, such procession being 
then a customary solemnity. “ On each side of 
the procession,” says Gough, in his edition of 
Perlin’s Description of England, “ went the 
Gentlemen of the Axe and the Archers.” 

The most conspicuous appearance the Pen¬ 
sioners made in this reign was in 1553, when 
they were on active service in their military 
capacity as the Body Guard of the Sovereign 
during the Insurrection of Sir Thomas Wyat 
and others. Mr. Underhill, who had served at 
the siege of Boulogne, and for his merit made a 
Gentleman Pensioner hy King Henry VIII., 
gives the following account of their defence of 
the Palace at Whitehall, which is taken from 
Fox’s MS. in Strype’s Memorials:— 

“The Queen and her Court were in great 












consternation when Wyat was come to South¬ 
wark with his army, intending to enter London 
that way. The Gentlemen Pensioners were 
commanded to watch in armour that night, for 
the preservation of the Queen’s person, and they 
came up into the presence with their pole axes 
in their hands. Whereat the ladies were very 
fearful, some lamenting, crying, and wringing 
their hands, and saying, 4 Alas! there is some 
great mischief towards us ! we shall all he de¬ 
stroyed this night; what a sight is this to see 
the Queen’s Chamber full of armed men! the 
like was never seen or heard of.’ ” The Band, 
in their usual habits, de la Cour, with their bat- 
tie axes, was an object familiar to the ladies, but 
the panic arose from seeing them in the same 
place in armour and on such an occasion. Soon 
afterwards the danger increased, and the Palace 
was beset by a party of the rebels from West¬ 
minster, and the gates closed. The Pensioners 
were then in the hall, from whence they issued 
and demanded that the gates might be opened, 
saying, 44 It was too much shame that the gates 

















17 

should be thus shut for a few rebels ; the Queen 
shall see us fell down her enemies this day before 
her face.” The gates were then opened, but the 
Queen “ earnestly requested that they (the 
Pensioners) would not go out of her sight,” inti¬ 
mating that “-her only trust was in them for the 
defence of her person that day.” 

The Queen w as, at this time, in the gallery 
over the gate. They then marched before the 
gallery window, “ when she spake unto them, 
requiring them as they were Gentlemen in Avhom 
she only trusted, that they would not go from 
that place.” 

Thus they marched up and down for the space 
of an hour, when news v r as brought that Wyat 
Avas taken. “Anon after,” says UnderhilPs narra- * 
tive, “ the Guard of Pensioners Avere all brought 
into the Queen’s presence, and every one kissed 
her hand, of whom they had great thanks and 
large promises, how good she would be unto 
them, but feAV or none of us got anything, al¬ 
though she Avas very liberal to many others that 
were enemies to God’s Word as fe\A r of us AAere.” 






















18 

The Queen accounted this so great an escape 
that medals were struck in remembrance of it. 

The Band next appeared on the marriage of 
the Queen Mary with Prince Philip of Spain, on 
which occasion the Gentlemen Pensioners car¬ 
ried up the dinner, their Captain, Thomas 
Batcliff, Earl of Sussex, officiating as server, 
since which period the Band have not only car¬ 
ried up the dinner at the marriage of Kings and 
Queens of England, but also at the Coronations. 

_ i 

In 1556, on the 20th January, there was a 
muster of the Pensioners and their Men at Arms 
before the Queen in Greenwich Park, when, 
according to Strype, “ they mustered in bright 
harness,” &c., under a Banner of the King and 
* Queen’s Arms, and Colors of the House of 
Tudor. 

In 1557 there was a similar muster. 















19 


QUEEN ELIZABETH. 

In the early part of this reign there is no ma¬ 
terial change in the Hand, with the exception of 
increase of pay and of a l\oyal Table allowed to 
the Gentlemen in Waiting, as well as the Officers. 

Notwithstanding the indulgence of Quarterly 
Waiting, the whole Band were in frequent at¬ 
tendance on Her Majesty hoth at Court and in 
Eoyal Progresses. 

In 1559 a Tilt was performed by the Band 
before Her Majesty at Greenwich, on which 
occasion Lists w ere prepared “ for the Queen’s 
Pensioners to run with Spears.” 

In 1561 the Band escorted the Queen into 
various parts of the City of London and its 
adjacencies. 

In 1564, when the Queen visited the Univer¬ 
sity of Cambridge, she was escorted to a play 
“ by all the Pensioners on both sides with torch 
staves.” 

In 1569, on the 28th March, according to 
Stowe, “ the Pensioners, w^ell appointed in armour, 


3 






































20 


on horseback, mustered before the Queen’s 
Majesty in Hyde Park beside Westminster.” 

In 1573, when Queen Elizabeth visited Arch¬ 
bishop Parker at Canterbury, “ the dinner was 
served by Her Majesty’s Pensioners.” 

In 1580 the Band also attended Her Majesty 
when she honored the Captain, Lord Hunsden, 
with a visit at Hunsden House. 

In 1598, according to Hentzner, “ the Queen 
went to Chapel on a Sunday, guarded on each 
side by Gentlemen Pensioners, fifty in number, 
with gilt battle axes.” 

The whole Band, therefore, not only attended 
the Queen in the Field, but also as an escort in 
Court movements and Koyal progresses, as well 
as when she moved in domestic state. 

According to Lord Hunsden’s letter to King 
James I., “that the Band was a seminary for 
statesmen and men of eminence,” &c., Sir Chris¬ 
topher Hatton, one of the Pensioners, became a 
Gentleman of the Privy Chamber, Captain of the 
Yeomen of the Guard, Yice-Chamberlain, a 
Knight of the Garter, and at last High Chancellor. 































21 

The orders in this reign for the discipline and 
attendance of the Band, are to be found in the 
Harleian Library, signed by Sir Henry Graye, 
Lieutenant, and another, perhaps the Standard 
Bearer, whose name is written illegibly, with a 
note, thus, “ This Booke agreeth with the Booke 
made in the tyme of Kyng Henry VIII., signed 
then with the Kyng’s own hand, which remain- 
eth with my lord the Captain.” 

These Orders (see Appendix , No. 2,) are wor¬ 
thy of note as displaying the strict discipline 
required of the Band at that time, and refer to 
the daily attendance upon Her Majesty when 
u going abroad to Morninge Prayer and Even- 
songe, in her Majestie’s progress tyme, or in any 
other removinge, or if Her Highness doth ride.” 

KING JAMES I. 

The following letter from the Captain, Lord 
Hunsden, to King Janies, as extracted from the 
Order Book, fully describes the state of the Band 
in this Reign:— 

3* 











22 


Letter from Lord Uunsden to Ring James . 

“ Most mighty and most gracious Liege and 
Sovereign, among many other honors and duties 
which I owe unto the memory of my late de¬ 
ceased sovereign, this is not the least, that it 
pleased Her Majesty upon the decease of my lord 
and father, and who also enjoyed the same hon¬ 
orable office, to grace me with the Captainship 
of her Band of Gentlemen Pensioners, which 
place and dignity I have to this present enjoyed, 
for the further continuance whereof I humbly 
desire to understand your Majesty’s direction, 
and withall do think it a matter agreeable to my 
duty and allegiance plainly and truly to inform 
your Majesty of the institution, nature, quality, 
and service of this honorable Band. Thev are 
in all fifty gentlemen, besides myself, the Lieu¬ 
tenant, Standard Bearer, Clerk of the Cheque, 
and Gentleman Harbinger, chosen out of the 
best and antientest families of England, and 
some of them sons to Earls, Barons, Knights, 
and Esquires, men thereunto especially recom- 


















































24 

of their blood, against all impugners whatsoever, 
with which humble and dutiful desires of theirs 
to serve your Majesty I thought it my part and 
duty to acquaint you, and withal humbly desire 
to know your Majesty’s pleasure and resolution 
concerning them. I have caused them to re¬ 
main all about the Court, with their horses, 
armour, and men, to attend the body of our late 
Boyal Mistress, and being generally all desirous 
to wait upon your Majesty, at your entry into 
this kingdom, as those that would be loth to be 
second to any in all obsequious and serviceable 
duties to your Majesty, wherein I humbly desire 
your Majesty’s further direction. 

“ And ever desire Almighty God, &c.” 

The testimony also of John, Earl of Clare, 
(who had been in the Band when Sir John 
Holies,) and given by his kinsman, Mr. Gervan 
Holies, will indicate the character and feeling of 
the Band:—“ I have heard the Earl say that 
when he was a Pensioner to the Queen he did 
not know a worse man in the whole Band than 






















25 

himself, and that all the world knew he had an 
inheritance of £4,000 a year.” 

Clearly shewing it was not the emolument or 
any lucrative motive which made gentlemen 
anxious in that reign to be admitted into the 
Band, but the pure dignity of the post itself, 
added to the laudable ambition of being em¬ 
ployed in public characters abroad, or of filling 
high offices at home. In 1616 King James 
issued an order increasing the pay and allowance 
and mentioning “ Sir Henry Wynn, now Pay¬ 
master of the said Band, from which it appears 
that a Paymaster had been appointed. King 
James’s order is as follows:— 

“ James, by the grace of God, &c. To the 
Treasurer and Under-Treasurer of our Ex¬ 
chequer, greeting. Whereas, we are pleased, out 
of our gracious and princely disposition, to make 
an increase of the wages and allowances of the 
Captain, Lieutenant, Standard Bearer, Clark of 
the Cheque, Gentlemen Pensioners, Gentlemen 
at Arms, and Harbinger, for the better enabling 
them to attend upon us, in our service, the same 

















26 

not to exceed in any one year the sum of six 
thousand pounds. This slial be therefore to will 
and commaimd you of such of our Treasure as 
from tyme to tyme shall be and remayne in the 
receipte of our said Exchequer, to cause payment 
to be made from tyme to tyme unto Sir Henry 
Wynn, Knight, now Paymaster of the said Band, 
and to the Paymaster hereafter for the tyme 
being, of all such soul and sonnnes of money as 
shall appeare to be due unto them, the said 
Captain, Lieutenant, and the rest of the Officers 
and Band respectively, upon Quarterly Eolles, 
subscribed by the said Captaine, or in his ab¬ 
sence by the Lieutenant, or in the absence of 
them, by the hand of the Standard Bearer and 
Clark of the Cheque for the tyme being, towhome 
any wages or board wages shall be due, and how 
muche everie of them (his cheque defalked to 
our use,) ought to receive of the same, the first 
payment thereof to begin and take place from 
the tyme of their last payment, and so to con¬ 
tinue Quarterly during our pleasure. To be 
taken, had, and received to the said Paymaster 















27 

respectively, without any account, imprest, or 
other charge to be set upon him or them for 
the same, or for aine part thereof. And theis 
our letters, &c., Given, &c. 

“ By Order of Mr. Secretary Lake, 1616. 

“ Expedit apud Bletsoe, 

“ Yicesimo Quarto die Julii, 

“ Anno Eegis Jacobi Decimo 
“ Quarto. 

“P. WINDEBANK.” 

CHARLES I. 

In this reign Monsieur la Serre gives an ac¬ 
count of the Gentlemen Pensioners, whom he 
saw on duty, to the number of fifty, when in 
1637 Mary de Medicis, the Queen’s mother, 
came into England to visit her daughter, Queen 
Henrietta. He compares them with the French 
Garde du Corps, and adds that each Pensioner 
had three horses, well caparisoned. The Captain 
of the Band, Earl of Salisbury, together with the 
Captain of the Yeomen, supported Monsieur de 












28 

la Masure, the Lieutenant of the French Queen’s 
Garde du Corps. On the triumphal entry of the 
King into the City of London, after his return 
from Scotland, in 1641, according tb Lord 
Somers, 

“ His Majesty was escorted by the Earl of 
Salisbury, Captain of the Pensioners, followed 
by the Gentlemen Pensioners, with their pole 
axes, all mounted, with pistols at their saddles. 

“And at dinner, at the west part of the Hall 
(Guildhall), below the gate at the south side, 
was a long table placed for His Majesty’s Pen¬ 
sioners.” 

In 1642 they escorted the King when he took 
refuge in Oxford, and it was commanded by His 
Majesty, with advice of the Council, 

“ That as often as His Majesty did ride 
abroad, the Captain of the Yeomen Guard and 
Lieutenant of his Pensioners, with four of the 
Gentlemen Pensioners, should ride continually 
near His Majesty’s person, and suffer none of 
mean condition, or unknown to them, to come 
near His Majesty.” 
























29 

The Pensioners are again mentioned as part 
of the Escort of the Queen when she made her 
entry into Oxford the same year. 

Orders for the government of the Band were 
issued by King Charles in 1633, which confirms 
a statement of Lord Clarendon, who says “ that 

the King kept state to the full, which made his 

■ 

Court very orderly, no man presuming to be in 
a place where he had no pretence to be.” 

These Orders (see Appendix , No. 3,) com- 
mence thus, “ The Band of Pensioners having 
the honor to be our nearest guard, and to have 
their daily access into our presence chamber, We 
think fit and ordain that from henceforth they 
be freely chosen out of our best families, and 
such as have best education, in several counties 
of our kingdoms, that all our loving subjects of 
best rank and worth may find themselves inter¬ 
ested in the trust and honor of our service.” 

They give also strict injunctions for the atten¬ 
dance of the Band “ when the King went abroad 
to Morning and Evening Prayers in the great 
closet, and to keep the place when the King 

4# 
















j 30 

passed to and fro, as the largeness of the room 
shall serve, also in his progress or other remove, 
when the King doth ride, when they shall keep 
such place as ordered by us or by their officers.” 

There can be little doubt of the Band being 
employed in active service during the Civil War, 
as His Majesty’s Body Guard. 

At the battle of Edge Hill it is stated that Sir 
Edmund Verney, the Standard Bearer, was 
killed, that the Boyal Standard was taken, but 
afterwards rescued by Captain John Smith, who 
was knighted and made Standard Bearer. 

Additional Orders (see Appendix , No. 4,) were 
issued in 1633 by the Earl of Suffolk, Captain; 
Lord George Goring, Lieutenant; and Sir Ed¬ 
ward Capel, Knight, Standard Bearer, and are 
to be found in the Order Book of the Band. 

These Orders refer principally to the attend¬ 
ance of the Gentlemen Pensioners at St. George’s 
Feast and all other festivals, as well as allowan- 
ces for waiting upon His Majesty into Scotland. 

During the Protectorate, Cromwell instituted 
a Body Guard of forty gentlemen, which, accor- 

I — - - - -- 




















ding to the following letter, assimilated with the 
King’s Band. It is from the Dutch Ambassa¬ 
dor (Nieuport) to the States General, as thus, 

“ High and Mighty Lords, 

“ My Lords,—A few days since the 
Life Guard of Horse of the Lord Protector, 
which formerly consisted of forty persons, most 
young gentlemen of this nation, was reformed 
after such a manner that twenty of them are to 
be employed as ordinary Pensioners, who are to 
wait continually upon the person of his High¬ 
ness, &c. 

“ Dated Westminster, March 10, 165G.” 

CHARLES II. 

At the Restoration those of the Gentlemen 
Pensioners who survived the Civil Wars, at¬ 
tended the King upon his entry into London, 
and the Band again resumed its duties near the 
royal person. 

According to Heath, in July, when the King 
dined at Guildhall, “The Band went on foot 


















32 

on each side His Majesty’s coach, under the 
command of their Captain, Thomas Wentworth, 
Earl of Cleveland, with pistols in their hands.” 

In the procession from the Tower to West¬ 
minster, on the day before the Coronation, and 
at the Coronation, they are found in their usual 
situations. 

In 1668 several changes took place in parts 
of the royal household, which did not, however, 
affect the Band, as they are comprehended in one 
general clause of exception, the intention being 
to cut off all supernumary places, “ other than 
were in the time of his late Majesty, of blessed 
memory.” 

In 1670 the Band w as reduced from fifty to 
forty, (at which number it has ever since contin¬ 
ued,) and the pay of the officers and gentlemen 
conformed to a fixed allowance by Boyal Order, 
(see Appendix , No. 5,) according to which the 
pay was as follows :—£1,000 to the Captain, 
£500 to the Lieutenant, £310 to the Standard 
Bearer, £4,000 to forty gentlemen, £120 to the 
Clerk of the Cheque, £70 to the Gentleman 















33 

Harbinger, and it was further declared “ that 
their habits and arms shall be such as we shall 
appoint.” 

In 1671, April 22, Lord Bellasyse, the Cap¬ 
tain, sent a letter to the Clerk of the Cheque, 
enclosing copy of Royal Order of Charles II. 
with regard to the reduction of the Band, with 
the names of the Band, in which appear eight 
Knights. (See Appendix , No. 6.) 

By this Order the King resumes to himself 
the appointment of the whole Band, but in 1677, 
by the following Order to the Captain, the Earl 
of Roscommon, he invests him with the same 
power his predecessors had. (See Appendix , 
No. 7.) 

By this Order also, every gentleman, previous 
to his admission into the Band, had the privilege 
of being presented to the Sovereign, which was 
confirmed by King James, and does not appear 
to have been revoked. 

During: this reign the Band seems to have 
greatly flourished, for in a List of all the King’s 
forces, including the Pensioners and Yeomen, 













34 


made and printed in 1684, there are to be found 
in the Band, exclusive of the officers, one Baro¬ 
net and nine Knights. 

On February 7th, 1674, the Commons re¬ 
solved “ that the keeping any standing forces, 
other than the Militia, was a grievance; that, 
according to law, the King ought to have no 
Guards but the Gentleman Pensioners and the 
Yeomen of the Guard, and that it was impossi¬ 
ble effectually to deliver this nation from a 
standing army till the Life Guards were pulled 


up by the roots.” 



II 


In 1684 King James II. issued an Order, 
(see Appendix , No. 8,) which commences thus: 

“ James B. 


“ The honorable Band of our Gentle¬ 


man Pensioners, having the honor to have daily 
access into our presence chamber, as being our 
nearest Guard and principal Military Corps of 
our household, in which honorable Band our 
















35 


Boyal Father, in his late Civil Wars, as well as 
other Princes, our predecessors, have found great 
service, as well in the guard of their royal per¬ 
sons as that it hath served them as a nursery to 
breed up the nobility and gentry of the realm in 
military discipline, and fit them to be command¬ 
ers in their wars, and We having taken notice 
that several persons have been admitted into the 
said Band not qualified as heretofore for that ser¬ 
vice, which has rendered the said Band less grate¬ 
ful to us, We think fit and ordain that henceforth 
none shall be admitted to be of the forty 
Gentlemen Pensioners in Ordinary but the 
sons of noblemen and gentlemen of blood, or 
such persons who by their valor and good 
conduct in the wars have distinguished them¬ 
selves as Commission Officers in our forces, 
and who shall for the term of six months, at 
the least, have served at their own proper 
charge as Gentlemen at Arms, commonly called 
Gentlemen Pensioners Extraordinary of the 
said Band. 

“None that is or shall be a servant, or 


5 


































36 

retained to any person or persons of any 
degree or condition whatsoever, by oath, livery 
badge, promise, or otherwise, but to us only, 
shall be of the forty Gentlemen Pensioners in 
Ordinary, or of the eighty Gentlemen at 
Arms or Pensioners Extraordinary of the said 
Band.” 

By reference to the ceremonial of the Corona¬ 
tion of James II. and Queen Mary, printed in 
1687 by Francis Sandford, Esq., Lancaster Her¬ 
ald, and now in the British Museum, the position 
of the Gentlemen Pensioners as the immediate 
Body Guard of their Majesties’ sacred persons, 
is clearly defined, and so unmistakeably illus¬ 
trated that even the names of the gentlemen on 
duty are mentioned. 

In this procession ten Gentlemen Pensioners, 
with two officers, are placed as the Body Guard 
on each side the King, ten also on each side the 
Queen. 

The names of the King’s Guard are as 
follows:— 































37 


STANDARD BEARER, 

SIR THOMAS.BLUDWORTH, Kt. 
SIR THOMAS KNIFERTON, Bart. 
THOMAS FRANCIS, Esq. 

SIR GERARD FLEETWOOD, Bart. 
CHARLES GORTWICH, Esq. 
GEORGE FARINGTON, Esq. 
JOHN BARNARD, Esq. 

JOHN WEST, Esq. 

ABRAHAM CLERK, Esq. 

SIR ROBERT DACRES, Kt. 
ANTHONY GAWDY, Esq. 


o 

I—I 

w 

w 


LIEUTENANT. 
FRANCIS VILLIERS, Esq. 
CHARLES CLUDD, Esq. 
DANIEL VIVIAN, Esq. 
EDWARD GLYNNE, Esq. 
EDWARD COURTHOPE, Esq. 
WALKER BAKER, Esq. 
WILLIAM ASHTON, Esq. 
JOHN HUBERT, Esq. 

ROGER CONNESBY, Esq. 
HUGH TYNTE, Esq. 
THOMAS HALES, Esq. 


The Queen’s Guard are as follows:— 


CLERK OF THE CHEQUE. 
WILLIAM THOMAS, Esq. 
JASTER TOMSON, Esq. 

JOHN TITTCOMBE, Esq. 
MILES MARSH, Esq.^ 
HENRY BINE, Esq. 
CHARNOCK HERON, Esq. 
THOMAS JANSON, Esq. 
BERNARD TANNER, Esq. 
LANCELOT LAKE, Esq. 
PETER COOK Esq. 

WILLIAM ROWLEY, Esq. 


P3 

P3 

G? 

P3 

W 

EH 


GENTLEMAN HARBINGER. 
RICHARD CHILD Esq. 
AMBROSE MEARES Esq. 
THOxMAS ROWE, Esq. 
THOMAS ORME, Esq. 
ABRAHAM DUPLEX, Esq. 
JOHN COWPER, Esq. 
AMBROSE SICOMBE, Esq. 
THOMAS MANNING, Esq. 
JOHN ESTCOURT, Esq. 
EDWARD MAYNARD, Esq. 
CHRISTOPHER TURNER, Esq. 


It is further stated that the Gentlemen Pen¬ 
sioners, in number forty, wearing their hats, 
(pursuant to His Majesty’s order, as being a 
military body,) being ranged in two files, were 
in attendance at the upper end of Westminster 
Hall to receive their Majesties, namely, ten on 
each side guarded the Queen, and other twenty 
in like manner guarded the King. 


5 * 


















38 


WILLIAM III. 

In this reign a Petition was forwarded to the 
Sovereign by the gentlemen dismissed by Lord 
Lovelace, complaining of his power as Captain 
to remove them, which Petition was duly consid¬ 
ered in Council at Whitehall, July 25, 1689, 
present, His Most Excellent Majesty, and an 
answer sent confirming the right of the Captain 
to dismiss any of the Band, but ordering at the 
same time “ that no gentleman for the future be 
admitted into the Band unless first presented to 
His Majesty for His Majesty’s allowance and 
approbation.” 

' QUEEN ANNE. 

There are several Orders in this reign, direct¬ 
ing payment to each of the Pensioners for their 
attendance at Hampton Court, as well as Wind¬ 
sor, on Sundays and other days of solemnity. 
(See Appendix , No. 9.) 
















39 

On the 20th July, 1712, the Clerk of the 
Cheque, Philip Pendock, Esq., issued the Cap- 
tain’s Order (the Duke of Beaufort) for the Band 
to wear their new clothes, red topped shoes, a 
white feather, and stockings and hat, according 
to pattern, and for mourning, on the 6th April, 
1714, their regimental coat, a black waistcoat, 
breeches and stockings, a mourning sword, and 
a plain hat. 

The costume of the Pensioners seems to have 
changed with the various sovereigns. (See 
Appendix , No. 10.) 

On the 2nd August, 1714, the Gentlemen 
were ordered to carry their axes in mourning at 
the funeral of Her Majesty ; on the 10th, to at¬ 
tend the funeral in close mourning, (cloaks 
excepted,) and on the 17th, in pursuance of an 
Order in Council, the whole Band was required 
to attend her late Majesty’s body, on the follow¬ 
ing Sunday evening, from the Presence Chamber 
in Westminster to the Koyal Vault. 






















40 

GEORGE I. 

The Orders in this reign refer principally to 
attendances, leave of absence, and directions as 
to dress. 

On the 5th October, 1714, the Band received 
notice to attend at the Coronation of His Majesty, 
and to new clothe themselves for that purpose. 

On the 22nd June, 1727, the Band was re- 
quired to attend the funeral of His Majesty, in 
pursuance of the following Order :— 

66 Sir,—I am commanded by our Captain, the 
Bight Honorable the Marquis of Arlington, to 
acquaint you that it is his lordship’s pleasure that 
you forthwith put yourself into close mourning 
for the late King, and that you have for mourning 
a scarlet coat trimmed with black, with a black 
cloth waistcoat and breeches, black sword and 
buckles, and you must also put your axe into 
mourning. 

“ I am, Sir, your humble servant, 

“ G. TUBNEE.” 















41 



On the 8th October, 1727, the Clerk of the 
Cheque issued an Order requiring attendance of 
the Band at the Coronation of His Majesty 
George II., “ by nine o’clock of the morning in 
Westminster Hall, to march in the procession.” 
(See Appendix , No. 11.) 

Sir William Wynne, Standard Bearer of the 
Band, and Sir John Taylor, one of the Gentlemen 
Pensioners, were the two who were knighted on 
account of the Band’s attendance at the Corona¬ 
tion, and the King paid their fees of knighthood. 
The Gentlemen of the Band carried up the King’s 
dinner. 

In the same year the Band attended His 
Majesty on Lord Mayor’s day into the City, as 
appears by the following summons :— 






“ Sir, 

“ His Majesty having accepted of an in¬ 
vitation to dine with the Lord Mayor on the 
29th this instant, October, being Lord Mayor’s 












42 

day, by our Captain’s express command you are 
authorized to meet the rest of the Gentlemen of 
the Band by twelve o’clock at noon at the Tavern 
in King Street, near Guildhall, where a dinner 
will be provided for the Gentlemen at the City’s 
expense, and from thence about three o’clock in 
the afternoon you must proceed in a body with 
the rest of the Gentlemen to Guildhall, there to 
expect His Majesty’s arrival. 


“I am, Sir, 

“ Your humble servant, 


October 25 , 1727 . 


“G. TURNER.” 


On the 2nd February, 1734, the Captain, the 
Duke of Montague, addressed a letter to George 
Turner, Esq., the Clerk of the Cheque, relative 
to the oath and the keep of horses for His 
Majesty’s service. (See Appendix, No. 12.) 

On the 28th December, 1734, the Duke of 
Montague addressed another letter to the Clerk 
of the Cheque, and commences thus :— 










43 

“Sir,—As His Majesty has done me the honor 
to entrust me with the command of his honorable 
Band of Gentlemen Pensioners, so I think it an 
indispensable duty incumbent upon me to do 
everything in that trust which may be for the 
honor of His Majesty, and not to suffer anything 
which may derogate from either. The Band of 
Pensioners , as they have the honor to he His 
Majesty's nearest Guard , so they are entitled to an 
honor which no other of his Guards have , which is 
that of Mounting Guard daily in His Majesty's 
P> ’esence Chamber, and thereby becoming more 
nearly entrusted than any other in the immediate 
guard of His Majesty's sacred person. 

“ This honor was first granted to the Band by 
King Henry VIII., by the Ordinances made by 
him for the government of the Band , was confirmed 
by King Charles I in the year 1633, by King 
Charles II in the year 1677, and by King 
James II in 1684.” 

This letter is very important in regard to the 
Band having the privilege of being His Majesty’s 
nearest Guard, and states that it was first grant- 











44 

ed by King Henry Till., confirmed by King 

ft 

Charles I., by King Charles II., and by King 
James II. 

This Order also demands the attendance of 
“ five of the Band, with their axes, from the 
hour of ten till His Majesty is gone to dinner ; 
also in the Presence Chamber every drawing 
room and other public nights, from 8 o’clock in 
the evening till His Majesty has retired.” (See 
Appendix , No. 13.) 

Another letter from the Duke of Montagu was 
sent to the Clerk of the Cheque respecting the 
position and duty of the Band when in attend¬ 
ance on the Sovereign at the Parliament House, 
as follows:— 

“ Sir,—You are hereby required to give notice 
to the Officers and all the Gentlemen of His 
Majesty’s Band of Gentlemen Pensioners under 
my command, that when His Majesty goes to the 
Parliament House the five gentlemen in wait¬ 
ing in the Presence Chamber do always attend 
His Majesty down stairs, with their axes, to his 
coach, and wait till it is gone off, and on His 

* 

























45 

Majesty’s return from the House to St. James’s, 
they receive him at his alighting out of his coach 
and guard His Majesty up stairs into the Pres¬ 
ence Chamber, where they usually wait. And 
it is my further order, and the Gentlemen of the 
Band are hereby required to take especial care 
that four of the gentlemen in waiting on His 
Majesty at the Parliament House do receive him 
at his getting out of his coach and follow into 
the Presence Chamber when His Majesty robes, 
and place themselves as near the King as conve¬ 
niently may be, before the Yeomen of the Guard, 
and stand to their arms till His Majesty is gone 
into the House ; and that they place themselves 
in the like manner against His Majesty comes 
out of the House, and whilst His Majesty un¬ 
robes, and attend him down stairs to his coach. 

“ I am, Sir, 

“Your friend and servant, 

“ MONTAGU. 

“Feb. 2,1737. 

“ G. Turner, Esq., Clerk of the Cheque 
to the Band, &c.” 

6 * 









46 

Another letter was written November 24th, 
1737, relative to the mourning for Queen Caro¬ 
line. (See Appendix , No. 14.) 

The following extract is taken from the Min¬ 
utes of the Lords of the Council relative to the 
funeral of the Queen :— 

“At the Council Chamber, Whitehall, De¬ 
cember 5tli, 1737. By a Committee of the 
Lords of His Majesty’s Most Honorable Privy 
Council appointed to consider of Her Majesty’s 
funeral. 

“ It is this day ordered by their lordships that 
the Band of Pensioners, which was directed by 
a former Order of this Committee to attend at 
the foot of the stairs of the Prince’s Chamber at 
the time of the interment, in order to receive 
Her Majesty’s body, be disposed of in the follow¬ 
ing manner, viz., that ten of the said Band do 
march with their axes reversed on one side of 
the said canopy, which is to be carried over 
Her Majesty’s body, and ten on the other side, 
in the same manner; and that the remaining 
part of the Band, with their axes erect, do fall 























47 

in at the close of the Procession, next before the 
Yeomen of the Guard. 

46 TEMPLE ST ANY AN.” 

In addition to which an Order was issued by 
the Captain most minutely describing the posi¬ 
tion and duties of the Band during the interment 
of Her Majesty the Queen Caroline, (see Ajijien- 
dix , No. 15,) in which it is commanded 44 that 
ten of the Gentlemen march on either side the 
royal body, with their axes reversed, under the 
orders of the Lieutenant and Standard Bearer, 
and that the remaining twenty of the Band 
march behind the late Queen’s Bedchamber 
Women, immediately before the Yeomen of the 
Guard.” 

On the 7th December, 1737, George Turner, 
Esq., received from the Duke of Montague an 
ebony staff, as the insignia of his office, according 
to the following extract from the Order Book:— 


44 His Grace the Duke of Montague was 
pleased to give a staff to George Turner, Esq., 
Clerk of the Cheoue. and directed him to carrv 























48 

the same whenever he attended on His Majesty 
in the Presence Chamber.” 

In 1741 his Grace the Duke of Bolton ordered 
the Band to wear Brigadier Periwigs . 

In 1743 the Right Honorable Lord Bathurst 
issued Rules for the guidance of the Axe Keeper 
(See Appendix, No. 16.) 

In 1745, on account of the disquietude in 
northern parts of the kingdom, the Band received 
the following Order from Sir W. Wynne, in the 
absence of Lord Hobart, the Captain, to attend 
His Majesty to the Field, with the Royal Stan¬ 
dard :— 

“ December 5th, 1745. 

“ Sir,—The Rebels having advanced to Derby, 
the King has signified his intention to set up 
his Standard on Finchley Common ; you are 
therefore commanded to acquaint the Gentlemen 
of the Band to be in readiness, with their ser¬ 
vants, horses, and arms, to attend His Majesty 
there. 

“ I am, Sir, your friend and humble servant, 

“ WILLIAM WYNNE.” 

















49 

According to Order in Council, November 1st, 
1760, the position and duty of the Band is again 
defined in the Ceremonial of the Interment of 
His Majesty George II., (see Appendix , No. 17,) 
and is the same as in the preceding reign. 


GEORGE III. 

King George III., on his accession, was 
pleased to confirm all the ancient privileges and 
honors enjoyed by the servants of his predeces¬ 
sors, by a proclamation dated January 13th, 1761. 

On September 8th, 1761, the Band assembled 
to attend the marriage of His Majesty with her 
most serene highness Princess Charlotte, of 
Mecklenburgh Strelitz, and formed the immedi¬ 
ate Body Guard of the Sovereign. 

On the 22nd September, 1761, His Majesty 
King George III. and his Consort, Queen Char¬ 
lotte, were crowned in Westminster Abbey, 
when the whole Band attended, forming the im¬ 
mediate Body Guard of the Sovereigns. 










50 

An account of these processions, in which the 
position of the Officers and the Band is clearly 
defined, is extracted from the “ London Gazette ” 
of 1761. At the Coronation dinner, which the 
Band have the honor to serve, His Majesty was 
pleased to confer the honor of knighthood on 
I. Bridge, Esq., Standard Bearer, and Owen 
Jones, Esq., Senior Gentleman Pensioner, and 
paid the fees for the same, according to the an¬ 
cient custom. 

In 1761 the Band attended their Majesties at 
Guildhall, as will appear by the following letter: 

“ Sir, 

64 His Majesty having accepted of an in¬ 
vitation to dine with the Lord Mayor on the 9th 
November, 1761, (Lord Mayor’s Day,) by our 
Captain’s express commands you are required to 
meet the rest of the Gentlemen of the Band by 
three o’clock in the afternoon, at the Paul’s 
Head Tavern, Cateaton Street, near Guildhall, 
where a dinner will be provided for the Gentle¬ 
men at the City’s expense, and from thence to 











51 

proceed in a body with the rest of the Gentlemen 
to Guildhall, then to expect their Majesties’ 
arrival. 

44 1 am, Sir, your humble servant, 

64 CHARLES CECIL CALVERT. 

“ October 6, 1761.” 

Agreeable to ancient custom the Band atten¬ 
ded at the Installation of Knights of the Garter, 
in 1762, on which occasion Robert Goodere, 
Esq., was knighted, after the second course of 
the King’s Dinner, which was carried up by the 
Gentlemen Pensioners. The following extract 
is taken from the Order Book :— 

44 12 September, 1762. 

44 Sir, 

44 In pursuance of an Order from the Earl 
of Lichfield, I do give you notice that you must 
attend at the Installation of the Knights of the 
Garter, to be held at Windsor on the 22nd Sep¬ 
tember, and I am ordered by his lordship that it 















is his express commands that he will not admit 
of any excuse, and I do also give you notice to 
be in St. George’s Chapel by nine o’clock in the 
morning of the same day. 

“ I am, Sir, your humble servant, 

“ CHARLES CECIL HERBERT, 

“ Ckrk ° f the Chequer 

The Band forms the Body Guard of the Sov¬ 
ereign at the Installation of Knights of the 
Garter, and in 1771, when William Desse was 
knighted, the Captain and Officers had apart¬ 
ments at Windsor Castle, and the Gentlemen’s 
dressing and muster room was in the Palace, 
and their table in the Bound Tower. 

An old privilege of the Gentlemen Pensioners 
was that they should be admitted to commissions 
in the Army preferably to all other persons, 
which arrangement is conformable with the 
statement in Lord Hunsden’s letter to King 
James I., where the Band is considered as a 












53 

school to qualify gentlemen for higher and more 
active employments. 

In 1782 Mr. Burke, in his Bill for a Reform 
of the Royal Household, proposed a clause that 
no post under the command of the Captain be 
sold, but be supplied by Officers in the Army 
and Navy on half-pay, whereupon the Band pe¬ 
titioned the House of Commons, stating the 
great private injury and injustice that would 
arise therefrom, when the clause was immedi¬ 
ately withdrawn. (See Appendix , No. 18.) 

There is an Order in the Order Book with re¬ 
gard to the tying the hair and wigs, a queue , 
the want of which, as being unmilitary, was 
much noticed when the Lords and Commons 
brought up their addresses. 

In 1789 the Earl of Leicester required the 
Band to attend at St. Paul’s to escort their Ma¬ 
jesties to the Cathedral (see Appendix , No. 19.) 

The Marquis of Salisbury, as Lord Chamber- 
lain, transmitted the following letter to Lord 
Viscount Falmouth, relative to the marriage of 
the Prince of Wales :— 

7 * 












54 

“ Lord Chamberlain’s Office, 
March 13, 1795. 

“ My Lord, 

“ I have His Majesty’s command to 
acquaint your lordship that on the evening of 
the Prince of Wales’ nuptials the Gentlemen 
Pensioners in waiting are to be drawn up in the 
Presence Chamber when the Royal Family pass 
. to and fro from the Chapel Royal. 

46 

r> 

“ I have the honor to be, my lord, 

“ Your lordship’s most obedient servant, 

“ SALISBURY. 

“To Lord Viscount Falmouth, Captain of the 
Band of Gentlemen Pensioners.” 

- 

A similar letter was sent by the Marquis of 
Salisbury to Lord Falmouth previous to the 
wedding of Her Royal Highness the Princess 
Royal with His Serene Highness the Prince of 
Wirtemberg, at the Chapel Royal at St. James’s, 
18th May, 1795. 














55 

In 1805 Lord Dartmouth issued the following 
letter to Viscount Falmouth, relative to the In¬ 
stallation :— 

“Lord Chamberlain’s Office, 
March 30, 1805. 

| “ My Lord, 

“ The Installation of the Knights of 
the Garter being fixed for Tuesday, the 23rd 
April next, at Windsor Castle, (His Majesty’s 
Palace,) I have received His Majesty’s commands 
that your lordship do give the necessary orders 
for the attendance of the Gentlemen Pensioners 
at Windsor Castle on that day, in such number 
as has been usual on similar occasions. 

“ I have the honor to be, my lord, 

“ Your lordship’s most obedient servant, 

“DARTMOUTH. 

“Viscount Falmouth, Captain of the Band.” 

On this occasion twenty of the Band attended, 
according to custom, and carried up the second 
course of the King’s Dinner, at which the King 
expressed great satisfaction, and knighted John 
















56 

Burton, Esq., one of the Band. The Officers 
and Gentlemen dined at the Queen’s Lodge, and 
the Muster Boom was procured in the Castle by 
order of the Captain. The allowances to the 
Band was as follows :—Lieutenant, Standard 
Bearer, and Clerk of the Cheque, ten guineas 
each; twenty Gentlemen, five guineas each; 
cases for Arms and Muster Boom, seven 
pounds; carriage of Arms and LTniforms, two 
pounds ten shillings; expenses of Harbinger, 
ten guineas. Total, £156 10s. 

According to Order Book, June 18, 1814, the 
Prince Begent, the Emperor of Bussia, and the 
King of Prussia, were entertained in a most 
magnificent manner at Guildhall, at the City’s 
expense, when three Officers and eighteen Gen¬ 
tlemen attended and were entertained in a 
sumptuous manner by the Corporation at the 
Baptist Head Coffee House in Aldermanbury. 
The Band also attended His Boyal Highness the 
Prince Begent at St. Paul’s Cathedral, on the 
day of Thanksgiving for the Bestoration of Peace 
July 7th, 1814. (See Appendix , No. 20.) 










57 

In consequence of the indisposition of His 
Majesty, the Band of Pensioners was transferred 
to His Royal Highness the Prince Regent. 

In this reign the Band attended the King and 
Prince Regent to the Chapel Royal on Sundays 
and other days, when a part of the Chapel was 
appropriated to the Gentlemen Pensioners. 

GEORGE IY. 

At the Coronation of King George IY., the 
whole Band were on duty, apparelled in costume 
similar to that worn in the reign of Queen Eliz¬ 
abeth, the King himself furnishing each gentle¬ 
man Pensioner with the magnificent dress and 
appointments it was his pleasure they should 
attend him in. 

On this occasion Sir George Pocock, the 
Standard Bearer, received the honor of knight¬ 
hood. 

At the funeral of George IY., the Band 
attended at the lying in state and the procession. 












58 

WILLIAM IY. 

King William IY. took great interest in the 
Band of Pensioners, and authorized and com¬ 
manded certain regulations very beneficial to the 
Corps. He frequently personally inspected the 
Band, and on State occasions was pleased to point 
out any particular duty he wished altered or 
more strictly attended to. The King, moreover, 
changed the name from “ Gentlemen Pension¬ 
ers” to “ Gentlemen at Arms,” and was pleased 
to make various inquiries and examinations into 
their Records and Order Books for the purpose 
of defining their constitution and rights, tending 
much to the advancement of the Corps, as the 
following Warrant, which was sent by His 
Majesty to the Captain, the Lord Foley, will 
signify:— 

“ Brighton, December 3rd, 1835. 

“ The King transmits to the Captain of the 
Corps of Gentlemen at Arms, for his guidance, 













59 

a regulation enclosed, which His Majesty has 
thought fit to establish with respect to filling up 
the vacancies which may hereafter occur by 
death or retirement, not entitled to sale in that 
Corps. 

“ WILLIAM R. 

“ The whole of the Officers to be named by 
His Majesty, who will reserve to himself exclu¬ 
sively the selection of the most proper persons, 
as vacancies occur, from Lists kept by the Com¬ 
mander in Chief of the Army, who will be re¬ 
sponsible to the King for the past conduct and 
merit of those who may be recommended. 

“ The Lieutenant either to be or to have been 
a Colonel or Lieutenant Colonel in the British 
Army or Corps of Royal Marines. The Standard 
Bearer, the Clerk of the Cheque, and the Har¬ 
binger, to be or to have been Lieutenant Colon¬ 
els or Majors in the Army or Marines. 

“ The Private Gentlemen to be or to have been 
Captains or Subalterns in the British Army or 

Royal Marines, to be selected from Lists kept 

8 











60 

by the Commander in Chief and by him laid 
before the King, who will make his choice both 
of the Officers and Private Gentlemen of this 
Corps. 

“ The Officers and Private Gentlemen, if on 
half pay, are to enjoy the same together with 
their salaries.” 

The Band attended as usual at the Coronation 
of King William IV., on which occasion the 
Lieutenant, T. B. Hendrich, Esq., received the 
honor of knighthood. 

They were on duty also at the Eoyal Funeral, 
at the Lying in State at Windsor, and in the 
procession to St. George’s Chapel. 

















61 


QUEEN VICTORIA. 

The Band of Gentlemen at Arms, from its 
better state of discipline from the enrolment of 
many gallant Officers of the Peninsula and 
other Officers of the Army and Navy, as well 
as more stringent regulations lately intro¬ 
duced by order of the Captain, under the 
reign of our Most Gracious Sovereign, is again 
assuming the military character which it for¬ 
merly possessed, both in the splendor of its 
appointments as well as efficiency in Her 
Majesty’s Service. 

The Band is regularly drilled and trained to 
the use of arms, and composed as it now is of 
properly qualified gentlemen, may justly be 
considered as efficient a Body Guard to the 
Sovereign as it was in the days of Queen 
Elizabeth. 

In the reign of our Most Gracious Queen they 

have served in their military capacity, being 
8 * 



















62 








entrusted with the defence of the State Apart¬ 
ments on April 10th, 1848. 

They have been present also on these different 
occasions:— 

The first occasion on which the Gentlemen at 
Arms were commanded to attend upon the 
Queen, was the magnificent banquet at Guild¬ 
hall given by the Magnates of the City of Lon¬ 
don to their youthful Sovereign. 

At the Coronation they were drawn up at the 
foot of the steps leading to the Throne, and also 
with special orders to keep the space clear in 
which the ceremony was to take place, an ardu¬ 
ous duty and one that required great firmness 
and attention. 

On this occasion Thomas N. Reeve, Esq., and 
Benjamin Smith, Esq., received the honor of 
knighthood. 


On the 10th of February, 1840, the Marriage 
of Her Most Gracious Majesty Queen Victoria 
with His Royal Highness Prince Albert of Saxe 
Cobourg and Gotha, was celebrated at the 
Chapel Royal at St. James’s Palace. At this 
















63 

ceremony the Corps were on duty, and were 
principally stationed in the apartment called 
Queen Ann’s Drawing Boom, as in this room 
the royal party first assembled, the Gentlemen at 
Arms forming a line on either side. Several of 
the Corps were also posted at intervals along the 
entire line of the Procession, six Gentlemen 
being specially appointed to follow the Queen to 
the altar and mount guard in the Chapel during 
the ceremony. 

On the above occasion the Honorable Sir Ed¬ 
ward Butler, the Lieutenant, received the honor 
of knighthood. 

At the ceremony of Christening His Eoyal 
Highness the Prince of Wales, twenty-eight of 
the Gentlemen at Arms, together with their 
Officers, were in attendance. 

The ceremony took place at St. George’s 
Chapel, at Windsor, on the 25th of January, 
1842. The Corps lined the South Aisle, and 
kept guard at the North and South Entrances 
of the Chapel. 

Four of the Gentlemen were also selected to 











64 

officiate as Guard of Honor to the King of 
Prussia, who was present on the occasion. After 
the ceremony of Christening the royal infant, a 
Chapter of the Garter was held, the King of 
Prussia being invested with the Order. At this 
investiture the Gentlemen at Arms lined the 
White Drawing Room. During the three days 
in which the Corps were stationed at Windsor, 
quarters and a table were found them by Her 
Majesty. 

At the several Christenings of Her Royal 
Highness Princess Alice Maude Mary, Princess 
Helena Augusta Victoria, and Princess Louisa 
Caroline Augusta, the Gentlemen at Arms 
were also in attendance, together with their 
Officers. 

At the State Ball given at Buckingham 
Palace, May 12th, 1842, thirty of the Corps, 
with their Officers, were on duty. 

On the 28th of June, 1843, the Corps were 
present at the Marriage of Her Royal Highness 
the Princess Augusta of Cambridge with the 
Grand Duke of Mecklenburgh Strelitz. 



















65 

On the 28th of October, 1844, twenty of the 
Corps were ordered to attend upon Her Majesty 
and Prince Albert at the interesting ceremony 
of opening the Royal Exchange; also on the 
occasion of the opening of the Coal Exchange on 
the 30th of October, 1849, twenty-eight of the 
Corps were in attendance upon His Royal High¬ 
ness Prince Albert, the Prince of Wales, and 
the Princess Royal, Her Majesty the Queen 
having been prevented by indisposition from 
attending. 

Although the Band of Gentlemen at Arms 
is liable to be called into active service, accor¬ 
ding to their original formation by Henry VIII. 
as his personal Guard in the Field as well as at 
Court, as also was the case in 1745, when the 
King intended to take the Field, and still more 
recently, in 1848, in the defence of the Palace, 
their principal duty is confined to all that ap¬ 
pertains to the splendor of the Court, as the 
more immediate and nearest Guard of our Most 
Gracious Sovereign. 










66 

Their duty consists in attending 

Coronations , 

Royal Marriages, 

Royal Baptisms , 

Royal Progresses , 

Royal Funerals , 

Installation of Knights of the Garter , and in 
Serving up the Dinner to the Sovereign , 

The Houses of Parliament , 

Addresses to the Throne , 

Levees , 

Drawing Room and other Public Nights , 

Chapel Royal , 

Stf. George's Feast and all other Festivals , 
Daily in St. James's Palace , 

and all other State and Court occasions, as the 
Immediate Guard to the Sovereign’s Person. 

On May the 1st, 1851, the Corps attended on 
the opening of the Great Exhibition of the In¬ 
dustry of all Nations in Hyde Park. 

------- ~- 

















67 

St. James’s Palace, June 10,1851. 

My Lord, 

I have the honor to inform your 
lordship that I have been commissioned by the 
Queen to inquire into the privilege claimed by 
the Corps of Gentlemen at Arms and by the 
Yeomen of the Guard of attending as the Guard 
upon the person of the Sovereign upon State 
occasions not in the Royal Palaces. 

May I therefore request your lordship, as 
Captain of the Gentlemen at Arms, to be good 
enough as soon as you conveniently can, to draw 
up and forward to me a Statement of the privi¬ 
leges which the Corps under your command 
claim to exercise upon such occasions, stating 
exactly what these privileges are, and the man¬ 
ner in which they are claimed to be exercised, 
and bringing out in as condensed a form as 
possible the grounds upon which the said privi¬ 
leges are claimed, and quoting the Documents 
and Precedents upon which they are founded, in 
order that I may report to Her Majesty on the 

9 










68 

subject, with a view to a decision being come to. 
I have the honor to be, my Lord, 

Your obedient humble servant, 
BREADALBANE, 

The Lord Foley, &c. „ Lord Chamberlain. 


Grosvenor Square, June 28, 1851. 

My Lord, 

In reply to your lordship’s letter of 
June 10th, requiring me as Captain of the Gen¬ 
tlemen at Arms by command of Her Majesty to 
draw up a Statement of the privileges of the 
Corps of attending as Guard upon the person of 
the Sovereign upon State occasions not in the 
Royal Palaces, the privileges which the Corps 
claim to exercise, and the grounds upon which 
such privileges are claimed, and the Documents 
and Precedents upon which] they are founded, I 
beg to transmit to your lordship the two enclosed 
Statements, one a short summary of the History 
of the Corps since its foundation by King Henry 














69 

VIII., containing the most material extracts 
from Royal Orders and other Documents, &c., 
the other, which I have called an Appendix, 
containing the Orders, &c., to which allusions 
are made in the Summary. I think your lord- 
ship will perceive by these Royal Orders and 
Documents, that Her Majesty’s Honorable Corps 
of Gentlemen at Arms, formerly called the Band 
of Gentlemen Pensioners, have been styled by 
every Sovereign as “ our nearest Guard and prin¬ 
cipal Military Corps of our household;” that 
the Corps upon all State occasions has been the 
Guard in the Presence Chamber, in the Roval 
Palaces, that the Corps has been the immediate 
Guard upon the person of the Sovereign upon 
all Progresses, Visits to the Guildhall, St. Paul’s, 
and all other State occasions in the City, upon 
the Opening and Prorogation of Parliament, 
upon the receipt of all Addresses, on the Throne, 
at all Drawing Rooms and Levees, at the Instal¬ 
lation of Knights of the Garter, at Windsor, 
upon all Coronations and Funerals of the Sov¬ 
ereign and of the Consort of the Sovereign, at 

9# 





70 

Installations of Knights of the Garter, and at 
Coronations, has claims for the honor of knight¬ 
hood, and the privilege of carrying up the 
second course of the Sovereign’s Dinner, and 
upon all State occasions it is the Guard nearest 
to the person of the Sovereign, and the only one 
in the Presence Chamber, in preference to any 
other whatsoever. 

I beg to state that at this time the Corps is in 
a most efficient state, and capable of doing any 
military duty that can be done by so small a 
body of men, and that the Officers and Gentle¬ 
men of the Corps are anxious to do any duty in 
accordance with their privileges in any part of 
the Kingdom without putting the Crown to any 
additional expense. Trusting these Statements 
may meet the object required. 

I have the honor to be, my Lord, 

Your Lordship’s most obedient servant, 

FOLEY, 

Captain of Her Majesty s Honorable Corps 
of Gentlemen at Arms. 

The Marquis Breadalbane, &c. 














Lord Chamberlain’s Office, 

16th July, 1851. 

The Lord Chamberlain presents his compli¬ 
ments to the Captain of the Gentlemen at Arms, 
and has the honor to forward the enclosed 
Order, bearing the Queen’s Sign Manual, which 
by Her Majesty’s command is to be strictly ad¬ 
hered to for the future. 

VICTORIA R. 

WHEREAS, We deemed it expe¬ 
dient that the Captains of the Gentlemen at 
Arms and Yeomen of the Guard should be 
called upon to state the privileges which they 
claim on behalf of their respective Corps as the 
Guards on our Royal Person on State occasions 
not in the Royal Palaces, And Whereas, We 
recommended our Lord Chamberlain to call 
upon the said Captains to furnish him with a 
Statement of the privileges claimed to be exer- 
cised upon such occasions by their respective 
Corps, such Statements to contain the grounds 
















72 

upon which these privileges are claimed, and to 
quote the Documents and Precedents upon which 
they are founded, And Whereas, the said Cap¬ 
tains have each transmitted to the Lord Cham¬ 
berlain a Statement as desired, and the said 
Statements have been by him laid before us, 
which are accompanied by his Report upon the 
claims advanced by the Corps of Gentlemen at 
Arms and by the Yeomen of the Guard, 

WE HEREBY SIGNIFY OUR ROYAL 
PLEASURE that the recommendations laid be¬ 
fore us in that Report shall be fully carried out, 
and that the Corps of Gentlemen at Arms, when¬ 
ever we shall command their attendance, shall 
do the duty of Guards nearest to our Royal Per¬ 
son, and shall attend for the purpose of perform¬ 
ing such duty when so commanded upon all 
State occasions, whether in our Royal Palaces 
or elsewhere, and that the Yeomen of our 
Guard shall be the Corps upon all such occa- 

i 

sions doing duty next to the Corps of Gentlemen 
at Arms. 

Given at Buckingham Palace, on the eleventh 











73 

day of July, one thousand eight hundred and 
fifty one, and in the fifteenth year of our reign. 

By Her Majesty’s commands, 

(Signed,) BEEADALBANE, 

Lord Chamberlain. 


CIRCULAR MEMORANDUM. 


Addressed to the Army at 
Home and Abroad. 


General No. 213. 


HORSE GUARDS, S.W., 

15th July, 1862. 

Corps of Gentlemen at Arms. 
1 —( 1862 .) 


Her Majesty having been pleased to 
approve of a re-organization of the Corps of 
Gentlemen at Arms, and to order that future 
vacancies therein should be filled up by Officers 
of the Army and Eoyal Marines of long or mer¬ 
itorious service, to be selected by Her Majesty 
from a list kept at the Horse Guards by the 
General Commanding-in-Chief, the following 
extract of the amended Eegulations in reference 
to appointments thereto, which will be adopted 










74 

henceforth in lieu of those promulgated on the 
25th May, 1861, is published for the information 
of Officers of the Army. 

The purchase of Commissions is to cease, 
compensation being made to existing interests 
from the Reserve Fund, by the Secretary of State 
for War, and no Officer who may be appointed 
to the Corps henceforth will be allowed to sell 
his commission. 

Officers wishing to become candidates for 
Commissions in the Corps, should apply to the 
Military Secretary, at the Horse Guards, stating 
their qualifications according to the following 
regulations :— 

The Lieutenant must either be, or have been, 
a Colonel or Lieutenant Colonel in the British 
Army, Indian Army, or the Corps of Royal 
Marines. 

The Standard Bearer, the Clerk of the 
Cheque, and the Harbinger, must either be, or 
have been, Lieutenant Colonels or Majors in the 
British Army, Indian Army, or the Corps of 
Royal Marines. 











The Private Gentlemen must either be, or 
have been, Captains or Subalterns in the British 
Army, Indian Army, or the Corps of Royal 
Marines. 

The Officers and Private Gentlemen on half 
pay, are to enjoy the same together with their 
salaries. 

No Officer will be appointed to the Corps un¬ 
der the height of 5 feet 8 inches. 

No Officer will be appointed to the Corps 
above the age of 50. 

By Command, 

JAMES YORKE SCARLETT, 

Adjutant- General. 














f 














APPENDIX. 


No. 1. 

HENRY R. 

Forasmoche as the King, oure sovrain lorde, of his greatt 
noblenesse, wisedom and prudence, considreth that in his reame of 
England be many yong gentlemen of noble blod, whiche have non 
exercise in the Feate of Armes, in handling and renying the Spere and 
other faits of Werre, on horsebacke, like as in other reames and coun¬ 
treys be dayley practised and used, to the greate honor and laude of 
theim that soo dothe, His Highnes hath ordeynecl and appointed to have 
a Retynue daily of certaine Speres, called Men of Armes, to be chosen 
of Gentlemen that be comen and extracte of noble blod, to th’entent 
that they shall exercise the said Feate of Armes, and be the more mete 
and able to serve theire Prince, as well in tyme of Werre as otherwise, 
and to have good wages to leve upon accordingly. 

And to th’entent alsoo that evry of them shall knowe howe to order 
and demeane themselfs, His Highnes hath made, ordeyned, and estab¬ 
lished certaine Ordenances and Statutes following :— 

Furst, evry of the said Gentlemen shall have his harneys complete 
and all other habilements mete and necessary for him, with two double 
horses at the leeste for himself and his Page, convenient and necessarye 
for a Man of Armes ; also his Coustrell, with a javelyn or demye-launce, 
armed and horsed as it apperteyneth. And they shall obey in every 
condicon the Captaine that shall be ordeyned and deputed by the 
King’s Highnes, or his Deputie Lieutenante, to have the rule and 
gov’nance of theim in all things that thei shall be commanded to doo 
on the King’s behalf. 

10# 








* 



Item. That they shall make theire abode in suche places as the 
King’s Grace shall appointe, or the said Captaine, or the Deputy Lieu- 
tenante, in the King’s name, whedder it be in places nigh his person or 
elsewhere, upon paine for every such defaulte to lose six days’ wages. 

Item. Evry of the said Speres and Coustrellys shall, at evry time, 
cary with theim their horses, harneys, and other Habiliments of Werre 
as thei have, and shall muster with, not lacking, at any thue, pece or 
parcel of theire said Habilyments of Werre, nor horses, upon payne of 
losing six dayes’ wages for every suche daye and tyme as he shall be 
founden in defaulte, being afore commaunded by the King, Captaine, 
or Lieutenante. 

Item. In likewise, that non of the said Speres nor Coustrells shall in 
no wise departe out of the place where they be assigned to make theire 
abode withoute the special license of the King our Sovraine Lorde, 
or of theire said Captaine, or Deputie Lieutenante, and to suche as 
license shall be granted unto by the King’s Grace, or the Captaine or 
Lieutenante, and the daye appointed theim for their returne, not to faille 
withoute lawfull excuse of sicknesse or otherwise, duely proved, upon 
payne of the losse of double wages for every daye as thei shall faille in 
comying after the daye to them lymited and assigned. 

Item. That evry of the foresaid Men of Annes shall furnyshe and 
make redy twoo good Archers, well horsed and harnessed, and to bring 
theim to muster before the King’s Grace, or suche persones as His Grace 
shall appointe, within a moneth at the farthest after the daye that they 
shall be commanded soo to doo by the King’s Grace, or theire Captaine 
or Lieutenante, and not to faille soo to doo, upon paine of losing their 
Romes, and their bodies to be ponyshed atte the King’s pleasure. 

Item. If any of the said Archers after thei be admitted, fortune to 
dye, the said Speres shall not admitte any other in theire place, but shall 
name oon mete person for that Rome of Archer unto the King’s Higli- 
nes, and bring him to his presens to be admitted at his pleasure, or else 
to the Captaine or Lieutenante. 

Item. For the wages and ent’teyning of the said Speres and Arch¬ 
ers, the King’s Highnes hath ordeyned and appointed that evry Spere 
shall have and receive for himselfe, his Coustrell, his Page, and his two 
Archers, thre shillings and foure pens sterlings by the daye, to be paid 
by hands of the Treasourer of the King’s Chambre, whiche is appointed 
by the King’s Highnes to paye them the same. And furthermore the 
said Speres shall receive theire wages for theim and for theire Archers 
at th’end of every moneth. 

Item. The King’s pleasure is, that the Lieutenante shall have for the 
wages and entertaining of himself, his Custrell, Page, and six Archers, six 
shillings by the daye, to be payed in like manner as the Speres shall be. 





























79 

Item. The King’s Grace woll that the Captaine, or ] /ieutenante, with 
suche other persones as his Grace shall appointe, shall evry quarter of 
the yere, as it shall be the King’s pleasure, see the Musters of the Men 
of Annes and theire Company, if any of them lakke horse, barneys, or 
if any of theire horses and barneys be not sufficient as they should be ; 
if thei be not, that they be commanded by the forsaid Captaine or 
Lieutenante to provide for suche as shall be good and sufficiente upon 
raisonable daye by the Captaine or Lieutenante to be appointed. And 
such as soo be founden in defaulte, that the Captaine or Lieutenante 
shall restraine his wages in the hands of the Treasourer of the Chambre 
till he be sufficiently apparalled of suche thinges as he soo shall lakke, 
and thus the Captaine or Lieutenante to doo upon payne of the King’s 
displeasure, and losing of his Rome. 

Item. To th’entent that the said Speres shall alweys be in the more 
arreydynes with their reytynue and suche horse and harneys and other 
things as shal be necessarye in that behalf, the King’s pleasure is, That 
the Speres shal be redy alweys to muster before the Captaine or Lieu¬ 
tenante, at such tyme or tymes as they slial be by them .‘commaunded 
soo to doo. 

Item. It is the King’s commandment, That the Speres and theire 
Companye shall observe and kepe good rule and gov’nance, and nothyng 
attempte againste the King’s subjects, contrarye to his lawes, and that, 
thei duely content and paye in redy money for vittalls and all other 
necessaries that thei shall take for tliemselfs, theire servants, and horses, 
upon payne to be ponished after the King’s pleasure. And if any of 
theim shall he founde three times culpable in any such defaults, then 
he or thei to be deprived of his Rome, and his body to be ponished at 
the King’s pleasure. 

Item. It is the King’s pleasure and connnaundement that none of the 
Speres shall presume to take his lodging by his owne auctorite, but be 
ordered theirin and take such lodging as by the King’s Herbergiers, for 
that purpose deputed, shall be appointed unto theim, upon ponysshe- 
ment aforesaid. 

Item. It is the King’s pleasure and commaundement that non of the 
Speres shall geve wages unto any Archer, Coustrell, or Page of any other 
Spere, nor to reteigne him as his servante excepte he be put to him by 
his own master, being oon of the said Speres. 

PORM OP OATH. 

“ I shall be true and faithfull subjecte and servante unto oure Soverine 
Lord King Henry the Eighth, and to his heirs, Kings of England, and 

















80 

diligently and truely give myn attendance in the Rome of oon of his 
Speres, and I shal be reteyned to no man, p’sone, ne p’sones of what 
degree or condicon soever he be, by Othe, Lyvree, Bagge (Badge), 
Promise, or otherwise, but oonly to his Grace, without his especial 
license. And I shall not hereafter knowe or here of anything that shall 
be hurtefull or prejudiciall to his most royal p’son, specially in treason, 
but I shal withstand it to th’uttermost of my power, and the same with 
all diligence to me possible, disclose to the King’s Highnes, or to the 
Captaine of the said Speres, or his Deputie Lieutenante, or suche others 
of his Counsaile as I shall know woll discover the same unto his Grace. 

I shall not leye to pledge ne putte awaye such horse and harnes as I 
nowe have mustered with before the King, to any p’sone or p’sones, ne 
put oute of service any Archer, Custrell, or Page, that I have nowe with 
me, onles I have before showed cause reasonable soo to doo to the King 
or the said Captaine, or his Deputie Lieutenante in his absence ; nor I 
shall know of any of my Company in likewise to leye to pledge or put 
away any horse, barneys, or Archers, but that I shall showe the same to 
the King’s Grace, his said Captaine or Deputy Lieutenant, in as brief 
tyme as I conveniently may. I shall also truely and faithfully to my 
power observe and kepe from this day forwards all and evry article 
comprised in a Book assigned with the King’s Hand, and all manner of 
Statutes and Ordinances in the same and in evry of them conteined. 
On this, I shall be obeysaunte unto my Captaine or Deputie Lieuten¬ 
ante, and the commaundments I shall observe and kepe at all Lines, 
soo the same be or concerne the service of the King’s Grace. And all 
suche causes secrete as shall be shewed unto me by the King’s Grace, 
the said Captaine, or Deputie Lieutenante, I shall keep counsaill with¬ 
out discovring of the same to any persone or p’sones till I be commaun- 
ded. I shall diligently give my attendaunce, with my Retynue, upon 
the King’s Grace in suche wise as I shall be commaunded and appointed 
by the said Captaine or his said Deputy Lieutenante, and not absente 
or departe from the Courte without license of the King or of the said 
Captaine or his Deputie Lieutenante, in his absence, by the space of 
foure dayes. And also all suche horse, barneys, and other Habiliments 
of Werre as I now have mustered with before the King’s Grace, the 
said Captaine or Deputie Lieutenante, be my own proper goods and non 
other man’s; nor also I shall not muster at any tyme before the King’s 
Grace, the said Captaine or Deputie Lieutenante, with any Archer, 
Coustrel, or Page, but oonly with such as I have reteyned with me to 
serve the King’s Highnes for the same entent. And thus I shall well 
and truely observe and kepe, and serve the King in the said Rome of 
oon of his Speres. So helpe me God and theis holy Evangelies.” 


















81 


No. 2. 

First, Her Highnes’ pleasure and commaundment is, that as many of 
the said Gentlemen Pencyoners as be or hereafter shall be ordeyned and 
admitted, being not lycenced by Her Majestie, the Captaine, Lieutenant, 
or Standard Bearer, be in the Queen’s Chamber of Presence every holy- 
daye by nyne of the clocke in the forenoone, and every working daye 
by tenne of the clocke, and there to give attendaunce, with their axes, 
ready to know what shall be commanded them by the Queen’s Majestie, 
the Captaine, Lieutenant, or Standard Bearer. 

The said Gentlemen Pencyoners fayle not to bear their axes and to 
give attendance upon the Queen’s Majestie every suche daye or dayes 
as her Grace shall come abroade to Morninge Prayer, the Procession or 
Offeringe, and from Morninge Prayer ; to Evensonge, and from Even- 
songe ; and to keepe the place where Her Highness shall pass to and 
fro, as large as the rome will serve. 

Her Grace’s commaundment is, That in Her Majestie’s progress tyme 
or in any other removinge, or yf Her Highness doth ride, the said 
Gentlemen Penconers shall keepe such places as to them shall be ap¬ 
pointed by their Captaine, Lieutenant, or Standard Bearer. 

The Queen’s commaundment is, That as well in her most honnorable 
Chamber as in all other places where Her Highness shall passe by them, 
and att their boarde, they doe use honest communication, with sober- 
nes, that is to wit, without oathes, or any rage in talke. 

That all the whole Band of the said Gentlemen Pencyoners, or as 
many of them as be resiaunt within the Courte for the tyme, doe accom¬ 
pany the Captain, Lieutenante, or Standard Bearer, from their dyninge 
or suppinge-place to the Queen’s most honorable Chambers. 

The Queen’s further pleasure is, that evry of the said Gentlemen 
Pencyoners shall at all tymes be obedient and conformable to all suche 
service as shall appertaine to the Queene’s Majestie, wherein she ought 
to be served by the said Gentlemen, or by any of them, as well in Her 
Grace’s Chambers as in all other places where her pleasure shall be to 
be served by the commaundment of such as shall, for the tyme being, 
have authoritye to commaund and appointe the said Gentlemen Pen¬ 
cyoners, as all other the Queene’s servaunts. 

Yf the said Gentlemen Pencyoners, or any of them, doe faill the daies 
of their appearance, in the place and howers before mencyoned, then 
the checke to be for the first defaulte the losse of three daies’ wages, 
and for the second defaulte the loss of sixe daies’ wages, and for the 
third defaulte the losse of fifteene dayes’ wages. 

If the said Gentlemen, or any of them, fade their attendaunce the 






















82 

daies of the Queen’s Highnes removinge, as well at the takynge of her 
horse as at her lightinge, or be absent when Her Majestie goeth to 
Chappell to Morning Prayer, Procession, or Offeringe, and from Mor¬ 
ning Prayer, to Evensong, and from Evensonge, then the check to be 
like in damages as is expressed in the Article above declared. 

The Queen’s Majestie’s pleasure and commaundement is, That every 
of the saide Gentlemen Pencyoners shall have his axe borne after him 
with a sufficient man, the axe being cleane and bright, as well in all 
places out of tier Grace’s Courte as within the same Courte, unto snche 
place where every Gentleman Pencyoner ought of duty to beare it him¬ 
self, upon paine of the Queene’s Highnes’ displeasure. 

Whereas the Queene’s Majestie’s pleasure is, That every of the said 
Gentlemen shall have three monthes’ libertie in the yeare of not wait- 
inge, so they take that libertie by the appointment and knowledge of 
Her Majesty, the Captaine, Lieutenante, or Standard Bearer, or of any 
of them; and when and as many of them as shall obtayne any suche 
lycense, they shall thereupon, ere they departe from the Courte, give 
acknowledgement to the Clarke of the Checke, or his Deputie, of the 
tyme and tymes of theire said license, with the returns of the same, or 
else the said license to be voyde and [they] to be checked for theire 
absence. 

Furthermore, Her Majesty’s pleasure is, notwithstandinge any li¬ 
cence given to any of the saide Gentlemen Pencyoners by Her Grace, 
the Captaine, Lieutenante, or Standard Bearer, that the said Captain, 
Lieutenant, or Standard Bearer, doe always foresee that there shall not 
be absent at no tyme nor tymes above the third parte of the Band of 
the saide Gentlemen Pencyoners. 

That every of the saide Gentlemen Pencyoners be well and suffici¬ 
ently provided and furnished of his two great horses for himself and his 
servaunte, according to his Oathe, with harness and all other habili¬ 
ments to the same appertayninge, to be ready with the premisses within 
two days’ warning given unto them by theire Captaine, Lieutenante, or 
Standard Bearer, upon payne of forfeiture of tenne days’ wages for the 
first defaidte, and for the second defaulte to forfeit a month’s wages, and 
for the third offence to be clearly expulsed and put out of the rome of a 
Gentleman Pencyoner, and to lose his whole Quarter’s wages. 

The Clarcke of the Checke, or suche his Deputie as shal be thought 
sufficient by the Captaine, Lieutenant, or Standard Bearer, to admyt, 
shall be everye daye in the Queen’s Grace’s Chamber of Presence, by 
nyne of the clocke before noone, there to receave the appearance of the 
said Gentlemen Pencyoners, and also the said Clarcke or his Deputy to 
be at all other placis where the saide Gentlemen shall be appoynted to 
give their attendaunce upon the Queen’s Majestic. 











83 


The Queen’s pleasure is, That every Gentleman Pencyoner shall pay 
to the Clarcke of the Checke, at the takinge of his Othe, ten shillings, 
which the Clarke oughte of dutye to have; and that is, to witte, for the 
givinge of every of the said Gentlemen his Oath, sixe shillings and 
eight pence, and the other three shillings and fower pence is for the 
coppye of the same Oathe to them mynistered, as aforesaide, and of all 
these Articles, to be by the said Clarke delivered to every of the saide 
Gentlemen Pencyoners. 


No. 3. 

Orders of King Charles /., 1633. 

The Band of our Pensioners having the honor to be our nearest 
Guard, and to have their daily access into our Presence Chamber, We 
think fit and ordain that from henceforth they be freely chosen, by our 
knowledge, out of our best families, and such as have best education, in 
several counties of our kingdoms, that all our loving subjects of best 
rank and worth may find themselves interested in the trust and honor 
of our Service. 

And as many of our Gentlemen Pensioners as are, or shall be here¬ 
after admitted, and not licensed to be absent by Us or their Captain, or 
in his absence by the Lieutenant or Standard Bearer of the Band, shall 
be in our Chamber of Presence every Festival day, Holy day, or Sermon 
day, by nine of the clock in the forenoon, and every Working day by 
ten of the clock, and shall there give attendance with their axes, ready 
to know what shall be commanded them by Us, or their said Captain, 
Lieutenant, or Standard Bearer. 

They shall not fail to bear their axes, and to give attendance on Us 
every such day as we shall come abroad to Morning Prayer, and from 
the same, and to and from Evening Prayer, in the Great Closet, and 
shall keep the place where We passe to and fro, as the largeness of the 
roorne shall serve. 

In our Progresse, or other Remove, when we ride, they shall keep 
such places as to them shall be appointed by Us or by the aforesaid 
Officers. 

They shall at all times be obedient, and performe all such services as 
shall appertain unto Us, and wherein we ought to be served by them, 
as well in Chambers as in all other places where our pleasure shall be 
to be served, by the commandment of such as shall for the time have 
authority to command and appoint the said Gentlemen Pensioners, and 
all other our servants. 

n 



































I 84 

If any of them fail their duties of appearance at their days, in the 
place and hours before mentioned, they shall be checkt for the first fault 
with the losse of three days’ wages, for the second with the losse of six, 
and the third of fifteen. 

In the like manner they shall be checkt if they fail their attendance 
in the day of our remove, as well at the taking of our horse as at our 
lighting, or when we go to or from the Chapel, at Evening or Morning 
Prayers. 

The said Gentleman Pensioners shall every of them have his axe 
borne after him by a sufficient man, said axe being cleane and bright, 
as well in all places out of Court as within, unto such place where 
every such Gentleman Pensioner ought to bear it himself, under pain 
of our displeasure. 

Whereas, by Institution and antient Order, every Gentleman Pen¬ 
sioner was allowed but three months’ liberty in the year of not waiting, 
and that by the appointment of the King, their Captain, Lieutenant, or 
Standard Bearer, and so as ere they departed the Court they should 
give notice to the Clerk of the Cheque, or his Deputy, of the time of 
their license, with return of the same, or else the said license to be 
void, and they to be checkt for their absence;—which Order afterward 
our predecessor Henry VIII., at the humble sute of Sir Anthony 
Browne, their Captain, enlarged by Quarter Waiting by course, yet so 
as the one half of the Band was required continually to attend, withoute 
any excuse of sickness or otherwise, but that he or they that did fortune 
to be sick or have any other lete within his Quarter, should, for the 
time of absence, find one, his companion that was out of his Quarter, 
to wait and furnish his place, or else to be in danger of the checke, and 
the other halfe of them for the meantime of their half-year, so by their 
Quarters to be taken at liberty. 

This Order thus enlarged to a Quarterly attendance, with the con- 
| ■ ditions thereof, we ratifye and confirm :—Notwithstanding any license 
given to any of the said Gentlemen Pensioners by Us, the Captain, 
Lieutenant, or Standard Bearer, shall always foresee that there be not 
absent at any time above half the Band. 

The said Gentlemen Pensioners were also required by their Institu¬ 
tion to be well and sufficiently furnished and provided every one with 
his two great horses for himself and his servant, according to his Oath, 
with his Arms and all other habiliments to the same appertaining, to 
be ready therewith within two days’ warning given to them by their 
Captain, Lieutenant, or Standard Bearer, upon payne of forfeiture of 
ten days’ wages for their first default, and for the second default to 
forfeit a month’s wages, and for the third to be clearly expelled and put 
out of the roome of a Gentleman Pensioner, and to loose his whole 













85 

Quarter’s wages,—which proportion of two great horses was then, in 
regard of the liberty granted of Quarter Wayting, increased to the find¬ 
ing of three great horses furnished accordingly; and this number, the 
rather for the late encrease of pay, We require to be furnished by every 
Gentleman Pensioner for our service in their places, upon the penalty 
above named. 

The whole Band of Gentlemen Pensioners shall give their attendaunce 
at the four principal Feasts of the year, viz., Christmas, Easter, Whit- 
sontide, and Allhallowtide, and at Saint George’s Feast, and at our 
Coronation Day, under the Cheque as they do now. 

And notwithstanding the great liberty of their Quarter Waiting, they 
are required neverthelesse to be at all times in such readinesse that 
when warning shall be given them from their Officers, they and every 
of them shall, according to the same, repair to the Court, and give such 
attendance for the time as shall be appointed unto them, using for that 
season, be it in their Quarter or otherwise, no less deligence than in 
their Quarter they ought to doe. 

The Clark of Checke, or such his Deputy as shall be thought fit and 
sufficient by the Captain, Lieutenant, or Standard Bearer to admit, 
shall be every day in the Chamber of Presence at nine o’clocke in the 
forenoon, there to receive the appearance of the said Gentlemen Pen¬ 
sioners. And also the Clark, or his Deputy, shall be at all other places 
where the said Gentlemen Pensioners shall be appointed to give their 
attendance for our service. 

The accustomed Oath shall be taken by every Gentleman Pensioner 
at his admission. 

They shall be mustered every quarter, or monthly, by their Captain, 
Lieutenant, or Standard Bearer. 

No. 4. 

ORDERED, 

That the Gentlemen Pensioners who waited on His Majesty 
into Scotland, that were out of Quarter, shall have such paye in lieu of 
their service in such journey as those Gentlemen had that attended 
King James of ever blessed memory, in His Majesty’s journey in the 
like kind. 

That the Gentlemen Pensioners shall give their attendance on His 
Majesty’s said service at St. George s Feast and at all other Festival 
days, whether in Quarter or out ot Quarter, as they shall be command¬ 
ed by the Captain, Lieutenant, or Standard Bearer, as by former Orders 
have been directed. 

n# 












No. 5. 


CHARLES R. 

We have taken notice that some Gentlemen, before our 
right trusty and well beloved John Lord Bellasyse was made Captain 
of our Band of Gentlemen Pensioners, have been admitted into the 
said Band, not qualified as heretofore for that service, which hath ren¬ 
dered the said Band less grateful to Us ; for the prevention of the same 
for the time to come, We do hereby declare that the said Band of 
Pensioners, now consisting of fifty, shall be reduced to forty, that shall 
be continued. And that if we shall think fit to remove any or all of 
those forty that shall be continued, those that shall be so removed shall 
receive half pay during their lives respectively, and those that succeed 
in the places the other half, and after their deaths the whole. That if 
hereafter any Gentleman of the said Band that quitteth his employment 
to any other before the admittance of such other into the Band, We 
will that he be first approved by Us; and since that by this method 
the Captain and Officers of our Band will lose the benefit of all perqui¬ 
sites and other incidental profits they now enjoy, that of right belonging 
to their places, We do hereby further declare that in lieu thereof their 
wages shall be made equal to the pay of the Officers of the Yeomen of 
our Guard, which we will shall be done without increasing the annual 
charge of six thousand pounds, which is the antient wages and estab¬ 
lishment of the whole Band ; and that for the satisfaction of the ten for 
their places, who quite leave the Band, the remaining forty, and the 
Officers, shall contribute out of their first year’s wages, which shall be 
paid according to this new Establishment, the sum of £1,500 ; and that 
we will order the payment of their arrears to the said ten in the first 
place, and the arrears remaining due to the Band so soon as conveni¬ 
ently We may. According to which Declaration We will that the sev¬ 
eral Wages be as follow:—£1,000 to the Captain, £500 to the 
Lieutenant, £310 to the Standard Bearer, £4,000 to the forty Gentle¬ 
men, £120 to the Clerk of the Cheque, and £70 to the Gentleman 
Harbinger. Lastly, We do hereby declare that their Habits and Arms 
shall be such as we shall appoint. 

Given under our Signet and Sign Manual, at our Court at Whitehall, 
the 17th day of March, 1670. 

By His Majesty’s command, 


ARLINGTON. 























87 

No. 6. 


CHARLES R. 

Whereas we have thought fit to reduce our Band of 
Pensioners, consisting of fifty, to the number of forty; and from hence¬ 
forth to reserve to our self the gift of the said places. And if any 
Gentleman shall hereafter part with his place to any other person, we 
do approve of such person before his admittance into our said Band. 
Our will and pleasure therefore is, that the forty that shall serve in the 
said Band shall be these hereafter named, viz., John Dingley, Edward 
Herbert, Thomas Hales, Esq., Sir Thomas Roe, Edward Brooke, Esq., 
Reynold Forster, Richard Harrison, John Root, Esq., Sir Richard 
Hatton, William Tase, Esq., Edward Alston, Charles Skrimshire, 
William Cooper, Esq., Sir George Tass, Charles Crompton, John 
Raymond, Esq., Sir Edmund Barker, Anthony Gundy, Fleetwood 
Dormer, Brett Norton, William Dickinson, Hugh Tent, Esq., John 
Kirk, sen., Sir Thomas Gery, Walter Ren, William Eoord, Edward 
Games, John Kirk, jun., Richard Wigmore, Robert Dacres, Charles 
Radley, Thomas Thatterdine, Richard Wills, Edward Coop, Henry 
Slingsby, Sir Philip Longwood, Edward Colman, Esq., Sir George 
Courthop, Roger Conisby, Esq., Sir Philip Honywood, and Thomas 
Sheldon, Gentleman. And our further will and pleasure is, that the 
said forty shall receive their annuity wages of one hundred pounds per 
annum, respectively; in consideration whereof we do expect that they, 
together with all the Officers of our said Band, shall contribute fifteen 
hundred pounds for the satisfaction of the said ten that are to leave the 
Band, according to the proportion of their several wages : the said fifteen 
hundred pounds to be detained by the Paymaster out of the first year’s 
wages that they shall be paid, according to this establishment; and by 
him to be issued quarterly or half-yearly, as it shall be received, without 
fees. And we have ordered the payment of the arrears of the said ten 
in the first place, and the arrears remaining due to the Band so soon as 
conveniently we may ; which we have thought good to signify unto you, 
to the end you may take order for the effectual putting in execution one 
pleasure herein declared accordingly, for which this shall be your war¬ 
rant. Given at our Court at Whitehall, the 18th day of March, 1670, 
and in the twenty-third year of our reign. 

By His Majesty’s command, 

ARLINGTON. 

To our right trusty and well beloved Lord John Bellasyse, 

Captain of our Band of Pensioners. 


♦ 





















88 

No. 7. 

CHARLES R. 

Whereas application hath been made unto us of late by 
several of our Band of Gentlemen Pensioners, about several differences 
between them and our trusty and well beloved Cousin and Counseller, 
Wentworth, Earl of Roscommon, Captain of our said Band ; and having 
fully heard that matter by Counsel learned on both sides, have thought 
fit to declare our pleasure therein, and do hereby declare it as a final 
decision and determination of all the said differences, that for the future 
neither Captain nor other Officer shall take or receive any fee or perqui¬ 
site for the admission of any Gentleman into the said Band. And fur¬ 
ther that the said Gentlemen be not obliged to wear or use any other 
habit, or give any other livery, than such as they themselves shall think 
fit : and in case of sickness or other urgent occasions, whereby their 
absence is necessitated, the Gentlemen of the said Band shall have 
liberty to appoint such of their number as they shall think fit, first 
acquainting the Captain, or in his absence the next superior Officer, 
therewith. And as to other particulars relating to the discipline and 
ordering the said Band, Our pleasure is, that there be no alteration of 
the duties and services of the said Band, enjoined by the antient con¬ 
stitution and establishment thereof; only for the present we do dis¬ 
pense with that part of their oaths that obliges each Gentleman to have 
always in readiness three double horses with their harnesses and other 
habiliments to the same belonging, until we shall think fit to require 
the same. And as a mark of our royal grace and favor to the said Earl 
of Roscommon, and of the sense we have of the constant loyalty of his 
family to our late Royal Father of blessed memory, and to our self, and 
of their great sufferings for the same, we are pleased to restore unto the 
said Earl of Roscommon the freedom and power of disposing of such 
place of Gentlemen Pensioners as shall be vacant by death, so long as 
lie shall continue Captain of the Band, which hath been enjoyed by his 
predecessors, Captains of the said Band, in as full and ample manner as 
they or any of them have enjoyed and practised the same before the last 
establishment in the year 1670. The said establishment or anything 
therein contained to the contrary notwithstanding, Provided always that 
the said Gentlemen who are to be chosen and admitted into the said 
Band, be brought personally to Us for our approbation before their ad¬ 
mittance into the said Band,—the like rule also to be observed when 
any Gentleman of the said Band shall dispose of his place to any other 
person. Given at our Court at Whitehall, the 6th of April, 1677, and 
the 29th year of our reign. By His Majesty’s command, 

HENRY COVENTRY. 

















89 


No. 8. 

JAMES R. 

The Honorable Band of onr Gentlemen Pensioners having 
the honor to have daily access into our Presence Chamber, as being our 
nearest Guard and principal military Corps of our household, in which 
honorable Band our Royal Rather in his late civil wars, as well as other 
Princes, our predecessors, having found great service, as well in the 
guard of their Royal Persons as that it hath served them as a nursery 
to breed up the nobility and gentry of the realm in military discipline, 
and fit them to be commanders in their wars, and we having taken no¬ 
tice that several persons have been admitted into the said Band not 
qualified as heretofore for that service, which has rendered the said 
Band less grateful to us, we think fit and ordain that henceforth none 
shall be admitted to be of the Porty Gentlemen Pensioners in Ordinary 
but the sons of noblemen and gentlemen of blood, or such persons who 
by their valour and good conduct in the wars have distinguished them¬ 
selves as Commission Officers in our forces, and who shall for the term 
of six months at the least have served at their own proper charge as 
Gentlemen at Arms, commonly called Gentlemen Pensioners Extraordi¬ 
nary of the said Band. 

None that is or shall be a servant, or retained to any person or per¬ 
sons of any degree or condition whatsoever, by oath, livery, badge, 
promise, or otherwise, but to us only, shall be of the Forty Gentlemen 
Pensioners in Ordinary, or of the eighty Gentlemen at Arms, or Pen¬ 
sioners Extraordinary of the said Band. 

If we or the Captain of the said Band shall think fit to remove any 
or all of the Forty Gentlemen Pensioners in Ordinary now of the Band, 
those who have bought their places that shall be so removed, shall re¬ 
ceive half pay during their lives respectively, and those that succeed in 
their places the other half, and after their death the whole. 

The Captain of the Band shall have freedom and power of disposing 
of all places of Gentlemen Pensioners in Ordinary, and of all Gentlemen 
Pensioners Extraordinary, which shall at any time become vacant, in as 
full and ample manner as any Captains of the Band have enjoyed and 
practised the same before the last establishment in the year 1070,—the 
said establishment or anything therein contained to the contrary not¬ 
withstanding. 

As many of the Gentlemen Pensioners in Ordinary and Gentlemen 
Pensioners Extraordinary as are now or hereafter shall be admitted of 
the Band, and not excused by their Captain, or in his absence by the 
Lieutenant or Standard Bearer thereof, shall be in our Presence Cham- 








ber every Festival day or Sermon day, by nine of the clock in the fore¬ 
noon, and every working day by ten of the clock, and shall there give 
their attendance with their axes, ready to know what shall be com¬ 
manded them by us, or their Officers. 

The said Gentlemen shall not fail to bear their axes, and to give at- 
tendaunce on us every such day as we shall go abroad, and when we go 
to Morning Prayer and from the same, and to and from Evening Prayer. 

In our progress or other remove, or when we ride, they shall keep 
such places as to them shall be appointed by us, or by their Officers. 

They shall at all times be obedient to their Officers, and perform all 
such services as shall appertain unto us, and wherein we ought to be 
served by them, as well in our Chamber as in all other places where our 
pleasure shall be to be served by them. 

If any of them fail their days of appearance in the places and at the 
hours before mentioned, or in the performance of any other part of the 
duties or services which by us or their Officers they shall at any time 
be commanded to perform, every Gentleman Pensioner in Ordinary so 
failing, shall be checked for the first default with the loss of three days’ 
wages, and for the second default with the loss of six days’ wages, and 
for the third default with the loss of fifteen days’ wages; and every 
Gentleman Pensioner Extraordinary so failing, shall for the first default 
be obliged to perform double duty, and for the second default to per¬ 
form treble duty, and for the third default to be clearly expulsed and 
put out of the room of a Gentleman Pensioner Extraordinary. 

The Gentlemen Pensioners in Ordinary shall every of them have his 
axe borne after him by a sufficient man, (the said axe being clean, as 
well in all places out of our Court as within,) unto such place where 
every such Gentleman Pensioner ought to bear it himself, under penalty 
of the cheque for every default, as aforesaid. 

The said Gentlemen Pensioners in Ordinary being required, by their 
institution, every of them to be well and sufficiently provided and fur¬ 
nished with his three great horses for himself and his servants, with 
arms and all other habiliments to the same appertaining ; the perform¬ 
ance whereof our late brother King Charles the Second was pleased to 
dispense with till he should think fit to require the same, it is our 
pleasure that from henceforth the Forty Gentlemen Pensioners in Ordi¬ 
nary and the Eighty Gentlemen Pensioners Extraordinary shall each 
of them be sufficiently furnished and provided with one great horse, 
with a case of pistols, a broad sword, an iron back, breast and head 
piece, with proper furniture and accoutrements to the same appertain¬ 
ing ; to be ready therewith within two days’ warning to be given them 
by their Captain, Lieutenant, or Standard Bearer; on failure whereof 
the Gentlemen Pensioners in Ordinary to forfeit ten days’ wages for the 












91 


first default, and for the second default to forfeit a month’s wages, and 
for the third default to be clearly expulsed and put out of the room of 
a Gentleman Pensioner in Ordinary, and to lose his whole quarter’s 
wages, and every Gentleman Pensioner Extraordinary who shall fail to 
be furnished and provided with horse and arms as aforesaid, and to be 
ready therewith within two days’ notice to be given him by his Captain, 
Lieutenant, or Standard Bearer, shall be clearly expulsed and put out of 
the room of a Gentleman Pensioner Extraordinary. 

Every Gentleman Pensioner in Ordinary shall also sufficiently furnish 
and provide himself with three great horses, with pistols, swords, iron 
backs, breasts, and head pieces, with proper furniture and accoutrements 
to the same appertaining, for himself and two servants, whenever we 
shall think fit to require the same, to be ready therewith within fourteen 
days’ notice to be given unto them by their Captain, Lieutenant, or 
Standard Bearer ; under penalty for every default to be chequed or ex¬ 
pulsed clearly and put out of the room of a Gentleman Pensioner, as 
afore mentioned. 

The whole Band of Pensioners shall give their attendance at the four 
principal feasts of the year, (that is to say,) Christmas, Easter, Whit¬ 
suntide, and All Hallondtide, and at St. George’s Eeast, and on the 
anniversary of our Coronation Day, under the penalty of the cheque. 

Our pleasure is, that the Captain and other Officers of the Band do 
always foresee that there shall not be absent, at any one time, above 
half "the Band, and that the other half, notwithstanding the grant of 
liberty for their Quarter Waiting, be at all times in such readiness that 
when warning shall be given them by their Officers, they and every of 
them shall, according to the same, repair to the Court, and give such 
attendance for the tune as shall be appointed unto them for that season 
as in their Quarter they ought to do. 

The Captain of the Band shall have a due regard that such Gentle¬ 
men Pensioners in Ordinary and Gentlemen Pensioners Extraordinary, 
whom he shall appoint to do the duty of Corporals, Sub-corporals, Pile- 
leaders, and Adjutants to the Band, shall henceforth always be such of 
the Gentlemen as shall have the most knowledge and experience in 
military discipline, without having regard to their seniority of admission 
into the Band. 

The habits, arms, and clothing of the Gentlemen Pensioners in Ordi¬ 
nary, and of the Gentlemen at Arms or Pensioners Extraordinary, shall 
be such as We or their Captain shall appoint. 

The Clerk of the Cheque, or such other his Deputy as shall be 
thought sufficient by the Captain, Lieutenant, or Standard Bearer, to 
admit, shall be every day in our Presence Chamber by nine of the clock 
of the forenoon, there to receive the appearance ol the said Gentlemen 


12 

































92 


Pensioners ; and also the Clerk of the Cheque, or his Deputy, shall be 
at all other places where the said Gentlemen Pensioners shall be 
appointed to give their attendance for our service. 

The Trumpeters of our Household attending on the said Band, when 
they are under arms, shall on every such attendance henceforth be 
mounted upon white horses. 

The accustomed Oaths shall be taken by every Gentleman at Anns, 
or Pensioners Extraordinary, at their admission into the Band. 

The Band shall be mustered, trained, and exercised in military disci¬ 
pline every quarter, or monthly, or as often as the Captain, Lieutenant, 
or Standard Bearer, shall think it necessary. 

The Gentlemen Pensioners in Ordinary, and the Gentlemen at Arms, 
or Pensioners Extraordinary of the said Band, shall be advanced to be 
Commissioned Officers in our Army, preferably to all other persons 
whatsoever. 

Given at our Court at Whitehall, the tenth day of Eebruary, 1084, 
in the first year of our reign. 

By His Majesty’s command. 


No. 9. 

ANNE, by the grace of God, Queen of Great Britain, France, and 
Ireland, Defender of the Faith, &c., To the Treasurer and Under 
Treasurer of our Exchequer now being. Whereas by Warrant under 
our Royal Sign Manual, bearing date the second day of October, 1708, 
W r e directed payment to be made to each of the Gentlemen of our Band 
of Pensioners that should attend us in his post on Sundays, or other 
day of solemnity, at Windsor, of an allowance of six shillings and eight 
pence for such day of his attendance, and a like allowance of six shil¬ 
lings and eight pence for his charges in coming thither, and six shillings 
and eight pence more for his like charge in returning back again. And 
whereas our right trusty and beloved cousin and counsellor, Henry, 
Duke of Beaufort, hath represented unto us that the Clerk of the 
Cheque and Harbinger are obliged to the same charges and expenses in 
their attendance on us as the rest of the Band, but being omitted out of 
our said Warrant they have had no consideration for their expenses, 
and that there is no allowance contained therein for the Gentlemen 
Pensioners, or for the Clerk or Harbinger of the Band, for the charge 
of their attendance on us at Hampton Court, though they are obliged 
to the same duty and expense there as at Windsor, all which we having 
taken into our Royal consideration, do think it reasonable to grant and 















93 

allow, that from the year 1709 the Gentlemen of the Band do receive 
the like allowance for their attendance on us at Hampton Court as is 
allowed to them by the aforesaid Warrant for their attendance on us at 
Windsor; and also that the Clerk of the Cheque and Harbinger of 
the Band have the like allowance from Lady Day last past, for their 
attendance on us at Windsor and Hampton Court. And whereas we 
have resolved that the same shall be from time to time issued at the 
Receipt of our Exchequer to our trusty and well beloved William 
Smith, Esq., or to the receiver and paymaster of the Band for the time 
being, according to Warrants or Certificates to be signed from time to 
time by the Chamberlain of our Household in that behalf: our will 
and pleasure now is, and we do hereby command that upon warrant to 
be signed by the Chamberlain of our Household, expressing the number 
of the Gentlemen of the Band who have been and shall be appointed to 
attend upon us at Windsor or Hampton Court, and upon rolls signed 
by the Clerk of the Cheque, containing the names of each Gentleman 
of the Band who hath actually attended at these places, you cause pay¬ 
ment to be made to the said William Smith, or to the paymaster of the 
Band, out of our treasure or revenue from time to tune in the receipt of 
our Exchequer, applicable to the uses of our civil government so much 
as the travelling charges above mentioned shall amount unto, in man¬ 
ner following, that is to say, for what hath incurred and shall incur and 
grow due thereupon for the attendance of any of the Gentlemen of our 
Band, at Hampton Court, from Lady Day, 1709; and at Windsor, 
from the time to which the same was last paid; and also for the 
Clerk of the Cheque and Harbinger of the Band, for their attendance 
at Windsor and Hampton Court, the like allowance as the Gentlemen 
of the Band from lady Day, 1712 ; which Warrants are to contain the 
respective days of their attendances in each year ; and not to be for any 
greater number of our Band’s attendance at any one time than have 
been usual before any travelling charges were granted by us for the 
same. And this shall be to you and every of you a sufficient warrant 
and discharge in this behalf. 

OXFORD & MORTIMER. 

To the Treasurer, &c. 

No. 10. 

Thus, they were equipped in cloth of gold, and armour of proof, to 
suit the taste and times of the Bluff Harry. In Elizabeth’s reign they 
were puff’d, and slash’d, and rapier’d, with also a somewhat lighter sort 
of harness for field work. In James’s time they were stuffed and pad- 

12 * 


















94 


ded, to keep pace with the Court fashion of that period. In Charles’s 
reign they wore buff and breastplate, and carried petronels at the 
saddle-bow. With Anne their costume was, as described in the above 
Order, and in a succeeding reign we shall find them in orders to wear 
Brigadier Periwigs. 

No. 11. 


Sir, 

His Majesty’s Coronation being fixed for the eleventh day of 
October, I am commanded by our Captain to give you notice that it is 
his lordship’s express command that you attend the said solemnity, on 
pain of incurring his lordship’s displeasure on your neglect. And you 
are required to be in Westminster Hall by nine of the clock in the 
morning on the said day in order to your marching in the Procession. 

G. TURNER. 

No. 12. 

Sir, 

If you will look into your Old Book of Orders relating to the 
Band, you will find in those made by King Henry the Eighth, that 
every Gentleman was to be furnished with two great horses for himself 
and his servant. 

And I think the oath which you make every Gentleman take at his 
admission, as it is set down in your Book, mentions only two great 
horses and one servant. 

But you will afterwards find, in the additions made by Sir Anthony 
Browne in Henry the Eighth’s time, that whereas they were then bound 
to find two great horses only, they should from that tune forward each 
of them find three great horses, the meaning of which includes also 
another servant to mount the additional horse. 

In the Orders made by King Charles the Fust, he confirms the for¬ 
mer Order for their finding three great horses. 

King James the Second also confirms the Order for their finding 
three great horses for themselves and two servants. 

Therefore the oath ought to be conformable to the Orders, and should 
say three double horses and two men. For the oath, as it is given now, 
must certainly have been given wrong, either by neglect or mistake in 
some former Clerk of the Cheque. 

For as you see by all the subsequent Orders from those made by 
Henry the Eighth, hi your Book, and by the Roll of the Band in King 














95 

Edward the Sixth’s time, that every Gentleman Pensioner had three 
horses and two servants, it is absurd the oath should not be agreeable to 
that, though it is what will in reality be never called in question; but, 
however, you should administer the oath for the tune to come conform¬ 
able to the Orders of finding three great horses and two servants, and 
begin with Mr. Monck. 

MONTAGU. 

No. 13. 

Sir, 

As His Majesty has done me the honor to entrust me with the 
command of his honorable Band of Gentlemen Pensioners, so I think it 
an indispensable duty incumbent upon me to do every thing in that 
trust which may be for the honor of His Majesty, and of the Band, and 
not to suffer anything which may derogate from either. The Band of 
Pensioners, as they have the honor to be His Majesty’s nearest Guard, 
so they are entitled to an honor which no other of his Guards have, 
which is that of Mounting Guard daily in His Majesty’s Presence 
Chamber, and thereby becoming more nearly entrusted than any other 
in the immediate Guard of His Majesty’s sacred person. 

This honor was first granted to the Band by King Henry VIII., and 
was confirmed by King Charles I., King Charles II., and by King 
James II. 

But notwithstanding their obligations, I have observed this material 
part of their duty, of daily attendance in the Presence Chamber, has 
been of late years neglected. 

And as I am persuaded it will be entirely pleasing to the Gentlemen 
to have them maintained in every part of the honorable privileges be¬ 
longing to them, it is my intention that from New Year’s Hay next you 
do take due care that the Gentlemen of the Band do attend every 
morning with their axes in the Presence Chamber. 

By the Articles of the Band, the whole are to attend dining Christ¬ 
mas time; but I shall dispense with the attendance of the whole for 
this time, provided that all the Gentlemen, who are now in town, do 
give their attendance on the 1st of January, and that from that time 
forward five of the Gentlemen do attend every morning in the Presence 
Chamber, with their axes, from the hour of ten till His Majesty is gone 
to dinner, and that they also attend, with their battle axes, in the 
Presence Chamber every Drawing Room night, and other public nights, 
from eight o’clock in the evening till His Majesty is retired, and always 
to stand to their arms when any of the Royal Family or Captain pass by. 

MONTAGU. 
















96 


PEGGE’S DESCRIPTION OF THE AXE. 

The ancient weapons of the Gentlemen Pensioners, and which they 
still continue to cany, are their axes. These weapons are extremely 
handsome, and somewhat curious in fonn and fashion. The heads re¬ 
semble the ancient axes fonnerly used in close onset with the enemy ; 
the offensive part is smaller, for ease and convenience, though the shaft 
is longer for state ; so that they might be more properly termed pole 
axes, they being elongated battle axes. This weapon was fonnerly a 
part of the royal equipment in war, and Kings are generally drawn, in 
old portraits, battle axe in hand. At funerals, both of our Kings, and 
even Queens, the axe was carried with great pomp, and offered together 
with the rest of the armorial regalia at the altar. Thus at the interment 
of King Henry VII., “ Sir David Owen carried the King’s helmet, 
after whom rode Sir Edward Howard, the second son of the Earl of 
Surrey, Treasurer of England, armed complete with the King’s harness, 
his face discovered, bearing in his hand the King’s battle axe, the head 
downwards, resting on his foot.” Again, at the funeral of Queen Mary, 
“ after the persons who bore the helmet and crest, the Man of Arms, 
the Lord Sheffield, came riding, armed at all points, saving the head, 
with a pole axe in his hand.” The axes of the Pensioners are repre¬ 
sented somewhat differently from any others we have had opportunity 
of observing, in Vandyck’s sketch of the Procession of the Knights of 
the Garter, 1639. The axes there have rather the fonn of adzes, with¬ 
out any pike or horizontal points, as at present, the shaft quite plain 
and unornamented ; whereas, even in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, in 
the Hunsdon painting, they come much nearer those now in use. In 
the reign of Charles II. the axes seem entirely to have assumed their 
present shape, as we may discern from the representation of a Proces¬ 
sion of the Knights of the Garter, by Ashmole. On a demise of the 
Crown, or on the death of a Queen Consort, the Band of Pensioners 
attend the funeral, and flank the canopy, carrying their axes reversed, 
and on these occasions the axes are put in mourning ; that is to say, 
their tufts black, and shafts covered with black velvet, studded with 
black nails, in place of their usual covering of crimson velvet, orna¬ 
mented with gilt nails, &c.— Pegge. 
















97 


No. 14. 


Sir, 


You are hereby required to give notice to the Gentlemen of the 
Band, that they put themselves in mourning for the Queen by Sunday, 
the 4th day of December next; and that they have for their mourning 
a scarlet cloth coat, trimmed with black, with sleeves faced with black 
cloth, without buttons on the sleeves or pockets, with a black cloth 
waistcoat and breeches, cambric weepers broad hemmed, shammy 
gloves, crape hatbands, black swords, buttons, and buckles, and you 
are also to signify to the Gentlemen that their axes be covered with 
black velvet. Given under my hand, the day and year above said. 


To Geobge Turner, Esq., Clerk of the Clieque 
to the Band, &c. 


MONTAGU. 


No. 15. 


Sir, 


The Band of Gentlemen Pensioners are to proceed at four 
o’clock in the afternoon in a body to the Prince’s Chamber, to take 
upon them the guard of Her late Majesty’s Body, and to accompany the 
same during the funeral. Twenty Gentlemen Pensioners are to march 
near the Body, ten on each side thereof, with their axes reversed, and 
the remaining part of the Band are to march behind the late Queen’s 
Bedchamber Women, immediately before the Yeomen of the Guard. 

The Band being come to the Prince’s Chamber, the twenty Gentle¬ 
men who are to have the immediate guard of Her late Majesty’s Body, 
are to range themselves against the wall on each side of the same room, 
as near to the Body as can conveniently be, ten on one side of the room 
with the Lieutenant of the Band at their head, and ten on the other side 
with the Standard Bearer at their head. Upon the commencement of 
the march the said Officers are to post themselves in the rear of their 
ranks, and the Gentlemen Pensioners are to reverse their arms. 

The remaining part of the Band are to range themselves on the stairs 
leading from the Prince’s Chamber to the Palace Yard, under the com¬ 
mand of the Clerk of the Cheque. 

When the Body shall proceed, the Officer on the right shall march 
equal with the head of the Body, and the tenth Gentlemen Pensioner 
from the Officer is to march upon an equal line with the Lord Chan¬ 
cellor, before the Body, and the Officer and Gentlemen Pensioners on 
the left are to observe the same manner of marching, 










98 


The Captain being appointed one of the Pall Bearers, the Lieu¬ 
tenant of the Band of Pensioners is to march in the rear of the ten 
Gentlemen Pensioners who walk on the right side of the Body, and the 
Standard Bearer of the Band is to march in the rear of the ten Gentle¬ 
men who walk on the left side of the Body. 

The Gentlemen Pensioners who walk on the right side of the body, 
are to bear their Arms reversed in their right hands, and those who 
march on the left side are to bear their axes reversed in their left 
hands. 

The remaining part of the Band, who are to be ranged on the stairs 
leading from the Prince’s Chamber to Palace Yard, are to march two 
a-breast, with their axes erect, with the Clerk of the Cheque at their 
head, immediately after the late Queen’s Bedchamber Women, and be¬ 
fore the Yeomen of the Guard. 

When the Body is set down in King Henry the Seventh’s Chapel, 
the Gentlemen Pensioners who marched on each side thereof in the 
Procession, are to recover their axes, and stand during the service in 
the same order in which they marched in the Procession, and the 
Officers are to post themselves at the head of their ranks, next to the 
chief mourner. 

The remaining part of the Band, with the Clerk of the Cheque, who 
marched in the Procession behind the late Queen’s Bedchamber 
Women, are as soon as they are entered King Henry the Seventh’s 
Chapel, to draw up in one rank, just within the door of the Chapel, and 
facing the tomb of King Henry the Seventh. 

When the ceremony is over, the twenty Gentlemen of the Band who 
marched on each side of the Body to the Chapel, are to march back 
with the Officers at their head, the Captain to march i mm ediately be¬ 
hind the chief mourner on the right of her train, and the Lieutenant 
and Standard Bearer on each side, in a line with the chief mourner, the 
Gentlemen Pensioners marching with their axes erect, in the rear of the 
Officers, and shall extend themselves at equal distances from each other, 
so as that the last of the ten Gentlemen Pensioners on each side be 
equal in a line with the last of the sixteen ladies, assistants to the chief 
mourner. 

And the remaining part of the Band are also to march immediately 
before the Yeomen of the Guard. 


MONTAGU. 






















99 


No. 16. 

I. Every Sunday, and on all other days when the attendance of the 
whole Band, or of all the Gentlemen in the Quarter’s wait, is required 
on His Majesty at Saint James’s, the Axe Keeper is to take care to set 
their axes ready for them in the Presence Chamber, where they attend; 
and when their attendance is over, he is to lock them up in the chest 
placed in the Guard Chamber for that purpose. 

II. When the King receives the Sacrament, after the Gentlemen 
have guarded His Majesty from the Presence Chamber to his closet, he 
is to remove the axes into the ante-chapel, where the Gentlemen attend 
His Majesty’s coming to receive or offer. 

III. When the King goes to the Parliament House, the Axe Keeper 
must have the axes there, and place them on the stairs leading up to 
the Prince’s Chamber, and when their attendance is over he is to carry 
the axes back to Saint James’s. 

IV. When His Majesty removes to any of his Palaces out of town, 
the Axe Keeper is to give the whole Band notice, and to remove a 
sufficient number of axes to such places where His Majesty shall reside. 

Y. When the whole Band, or twenty of them, are in waiting, the 
Axe Keeper is to wait in the Guard Chamber adjoining to the Presence 
Chamber, in which the Gentlemen wait, and not to depart the room till 
the Gentlemen are discharged their attendance: and at the Parliament 
House he is in like manner to wait on the inside, close to the door 
leading up to the stairs to the Prince’s Chamber, and to give notice of 
the King’s arrival. 

VI. He must always give the respective Gentlemen notice when they 
come into their quarterly and weekly waiting, and also he must always 
give notice whose turn it is out of their quarterly waiting to attend His 
Majesty at the Parliament House, in the places of the live Gentlemen 
who are to wait on such days at St. James’s. 

VII. He is to give the Officers, Gentlemen in Waiting, and Gentle¬ 
man Harbinger, notice whenever the Court goes into close mourning, 
second mourning, and out of mourning. 

VIII. He is to inform himself and give notice at all times when the 
King goes to the Parliament House, and to summon the Gentlemen 
whose turn it shall be to attend there. 

IX. He is also to inform himself and give notice to the whole Band 
to attend whenever the King gives any audiences or receives addresses 
on the Throne. And also for the whole Band to attend every Christmas 
Hay, New Year’s Day, Twelfth Day, the King and Queen’s birth days, 

13 










100 


and the birth days of their Royal Highnesses the Prince and Princess 
of Wales. 

X. Whenever the Captain, or in his absence the next Commanding 
Officer, shall give any orders, and the same be communicated by the 
Clerk of the Cheque to the Axe Keeper, he is to acquaint the Officers 
and the rest of the Band with the same. 


No. 17. 


At the Council Chamber, Whitehall, the 1st day of November, 1760, 

By the Right Honorable the Lords of the Committee of Council 
appointed to consider of His late Majesty’s Funeral: 

It is this day ordered by their lordships that the Right Honorable 
the Lord Berkeley, of Stratton, Captain of the Band of Pensioners, do 
direct the said Band to attend at the foot of the Prince’s Chamber, at 
Westminster, at seven o’clock in evening of the eleventh instant, being 
the time appointed for the Interment of His late Majesty, in order to 
receive the body^and to be afterwards disposed of in the following 
manner, viz., that ten of the said Band do march with their axes re¬ 
versed on one side of the canopy which is to be carried over His late 
Majesty’s body, and ten on the other side in the like manner; and the 
remaining part of the Band, with their axes erect, do fall in at the close 
of the Procession, next before the Yeomen of the Guard. 

W. SHARPE. 

No. 18. 

To the Honorable the Commons of Great Britain in 
Parliament assembled. 

The humble Petition of the Gentlemen belonging to the Honorable 

Band of Pensioners, 

Sheweth, 

That your Petitioners having perused the Bill before this Honorable 
House “ For enabling His Majesty to discharge the debt, contracted 
upon the Civil List Revenues, and from preventing the same from being 
in arrear for the future, by regulating the mode of payment out of the 
said Revenues, and by suppressing or regulating certain offices therein 


















101 


mentioned, which are now paid out of the Revenues of the Civil List,” 
are under the greatest concern to find it proposed to he enacted by 
such Bill, “ That all Commission and other Officers belonging to the 
Band of Gentlemen Pensioners, under the Captain of the Band, as also 
the vacancies in the Band of Gentlemen Pensioners, should not be sold, 
but that the Officers and private Gentlemen of the Band of Pensioners 
should be filled only by Officers in the Army or Navy upon half-pay.” 

That your Petitioners beg leave to inform this Honorable House that 
it has been customary for many years past to purchase the office or 
place of a private Gentleman of the Band of Pensioners, and to sell the 
same (with the approbation of the Captain) as occasion offered. 

That in confidence of being permitted to sell such office or place, 
your Petitioners have been induced to give, on an average, one thousand 
guineas for the same. 

That the salary of such office or place, after payment of the land-tax 
and other outgoings, seldom producing more than the net annual siun 
of seventy-nine pounds, and the expense of the necessary regimental or 
uniform dress of your Petitioners being deducted thereout, reduces the 
income to about seventy-six pounds per annum. 

That many of your Petitioners being gentlemen of small fortunes, 
and having little else to depend on than this income, and some of your 
Petitioners being married and having children, will be very much dis¬ 
tressed if they should not be permitted to sell their offices or places. 

Your Petitioners therefore, with the greatest deference, submit their 
case to the justice and wisdom of this Honorable House, 
trusting that on due consideration they shall have such 
indemnities and relief in the Premises as to this Honorable 
House shall seem meet. 

And your Petitioners shall ever pray. 

No. 19. 


Sir, 

I have it in command from our Captain, the Earl of Leicester, 
to acquaint you that your personal attendance, and that of every Gen¬ 
tleman of the honorable Band, is required at St. Paul s Cathedral, by 
ten o’clock of the morning of Thursday, the 23rd of April, that day 
being appointed for a General Thanksgiving to Almighty God for the 
happy Restoration of His Majesty’s Health :—all excuses apart, except 
that of inability through sickness or infirmity, which must be properly 
certified by medical men. In receiving their Majesties, the Gentlemen 

13 * 


































102 

are to stand in an agreeable posture, those of the same size being placed 
next to each other in two exact equal lines, at the distance of their axe 
arm extended from each other, and to suffer no person to stand before 
or between them, that they march with as much decency and regularity 
as possible in following their Majesties, and that eight of them attend 
on each side of the Throne during Divine Service. 

No Gentleman must be absent from St. Paul’s, without leave of the 
Earl of Leicester, before the duty is over. 

I am, Sir, your most obedient servant, 

H. HAYWARD, 

Clerk of the Cheque. 

William Sands, Esq., Premier Gentleman Pensioner. 

No. 20. 

Lord Chamberlain’s Office, July 4, 1814. 

My Lord, 

His Royal Highness the Prince Regent purposing to go in 
Procession to St. Paul’s on Thursday, the 7th instant, I have to request 
that your lordship will give the necessary orders for the attendance of 
the Gentlemen Pensioners upon His Royal Highness on that day. 

I have the honor to be, my Lord, 

Your Lordship’s most obedient servant, 

HERTFORD. 

The Earl or Courtown, Captain. 


WILLIAM LEWIS, PRINTER, 6, CORRIDOR, MARKET PLACE, BATH. 


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